Light and Dark
by fyd818
Summary: :Prequel to "Shadows": When Uchiha Itachi leaves his village and everything he's ever known behind, it's to follow his duty to another village, which he's sure he can never call home. Sabaku Temari finds something familiar about Suna's newest ninja, but who is he - and why does he drive her crazy at every turn? :Itachi x Temari:
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_, nor any places, things, characters, or ideas therein. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Viz Media, Shounen Jump, TV Tokyo, etc. I am writing this fic for entertainment purposes _only_, not monetary gain.

Summary: Prequel to "Shadows." When Uchiha Itachi leaves his village and everything he's ever known behind, it's to follow his duty to another village, which he's sure he can never call home. Sabaku Temari finds something familiar about Suna's newest ninja, but who is he - and why does he drive her crazy at every turn? :Itachi x Temari:

Rating: T

Warnings: Violence

Pairing(s): Itachi/Temari, future Gaara/Hinata

Sequel to: _Sunshine_ Prequel to: _Shadows_

**Dedication:** To everyone who took the time to read, review, favorite, and follow _Shadows_. Your kind words and support made writing that fic one of the most fun fandom experiences I've ever had, and I can honestly say _Light and Dark_ would not have happened without you. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

**Author's Note:** I'm so excited to start this new adventure with you all! There are _so_ many things I'm looking forward to exploring further in this story - more about the ninja world in general, Itachi's and Temari's individual stories and what brought them together as a couple, and the rest of the sequence of events which eventually led Hinata to Suna. Thank you all so much for checking out this story, and I hope you enjoy the prologue!

* * *

***~Light and Dark~***

_.:fyd818:._

* * *

***~Prologue~***

* * *

_Is this what it feels like, knowing one's going to die?_

The thought floated into Sabaku Temari's mind like a wispy cloud, bringing with it a strange calm as she watched the golden glow far above her begin to recede. The play of sunlight on the surface of the water had been pretty from the bridge above it, but now, from below, it seemed somehow sinister.

Darkness crept insidiously inward from the corners of her eyes. An increasing pressure in her chest forced from her lips the quick gasp of air she'd managed to pull in before hitting the water. Bubbles exited her mouth, racing upwards to the surface in a motion she couldn't seem to emulate. She pushed feebly at the weight simultaneously pushing as well as pulling her down, flailing her arms and legs; but her movements were slow, her limbs hopelessly heavy.

_I am going to die._ Fear stabbed her in the chest, along with pain as the cold water hit her lungs. _I'm only twelve years old, but I'm going to die_.

A shadow appeared above her, blocking out the sunlight. It cut rapidly through the water, coming closer and closer until it materialized into a person, one who reached for her through the water.

Temari tried to reach out her hand to meet him halfway, but the darkness sucked her in before she could.

_...sharp pain in her chest..._

_...hands touching her..._

_...an unfamiliar voice shouting..._

She came back to life with a choking gasp, instinctively rolling onto her right side as she vomited a frightening amount of water all over the ground and the mostly bare legs of the person kneeling next to her.

"Ah, there you are." The hands, which had been cupping her face only a moment before, supported her as she weakly rolled onto her back again. "I was beginning to think I hadn't reached you in time."

Confused, Temari blinked the last of the wetness out of her eyes and stared up into the face of her rescuer. He looked about her age, twelve or thirteen, with pale skin, inky black eyes, and equally black hair which was dripping all over her (not that it mattered, since she was soaked to the bone anyway). "What happened?" she croaked. Her throat - much like the rest of her body - hurt.

Leaning back, the boy rested his hands on his knees. "Best I can figure from what I saw, you were standing on the bridge over the creek, just staring down into the water - thinking deep thoughts, I suppose." A grin tugged at the corners of his lips, briefly brightening his ebony eyes. "But then a group of kids came running through, one of them pushed another into you, and over you went." His expression darkened slightly, surprising after his earlier levity. "Might I take this opportunity to apologize for my little brother?"

She had a vague memory of the things he'd mentioned, but her mind felt fuzzy, like it had been packed in cotton. "Why?" She swallowed thickly, wincing at the pain. Each breath felt like a bellows fanning the flame in her chest, not to mention the one in her throat. "What does your little brother have to do with this?" She had two of her own. She knew what little brothers were capable of. But still, she had to ask the question.

"He's the one who pushed Naruto into you. Not deliberately, I'm sure. Sasuke's really a good kid." Pushing his wet hair away from his face, he smiled winsomely. "Uchiha Itachi at your service, my little mermaid."

Scowling at the teasing in his tone - and words - Temari pushed herself up onto her elbows, surprised at the shakiness in her usually rock-steady limbs. "I am _not_ a mermaid!" she protested.

Itachi grinned again. "That is quite obvious."

Grinding her teeth furiously, she nearly spat out her next words with exacting care. "_I_ am Sabaku Temari, daughter of the leader of Suna. And do not think your _perceived_ rescue of me has earned you any favor in my eyes, or the eyes of my family!" She made to push herself to her feet, determined to march her way back to the Hyuuga estate - even in all her dripping, bedraggled glory - and never, _ever_ lay eyes on Uchiha Itachi again.

Before the thought could travel from her brain to her still strangely heavy limbs, Itachi had scooped her up and started strolling off toward the bridge from which she'd tumbled (or, more accurately, been pushed). "Sabaku Temari from Suna? I've heard of you - or, more precisely, of your father. You're staying at the Hyuuga estate. I'll take you there and make sure you're in good hands, unless you think you need to go to the hospital instead...?"

Her momentary shock having passed, Temari curled her hands into fists. "Put. Me. Down." Who in the world did this boy think she was, some simpering little damsel in distress? She'd nearly drowned, yes, but she'd been through years of ninja training. She was strong. She'd shake it off and keep going - _without_ help, thank you very much.

Ignoring her protestations - and the surprised stares of all the people they were passing - Itachi strolled on as if he had all the time in the world. Of course _he_ didn't find this embarrassing at all, considering he probably thought himself some sort of hero or something. "I would, but considering you just nearly drowned back there, I don't really think that's a very good idea. No offense, but I doubt you'd be able to stand up, let alone walk, if I did."

_Nobody likes a know-it-all, you know._ Biting back the scathing remark, she glared daggers into the side of Itachi's thick head. "I'm stronger than you obviously _think_ I'm not."

"Your strength, or lack thereof, is not the issue." He shifted his hold on her when her squirming caused her to slip slightly. "You'd be surprised how much being in the water sucks the strength out of you."

Temari didn't want to admit how much she could still feel the shakiness in her limbs attesting to the truth of his words. That would prove him right, and she couldn't allow that to happen. "I'm _fine_."

"I'm sure you are," Itachi replied as he turned a corner and the gates of the Hyuuga estate came into view. "However, fortunately for you, I enjoy rescuing damsels in distress and carrying them about, so you might as well just relax and enjoy the ride."

"You are incorrigible!" She kicked out her right leg uselessly. "And _I_ am _not_ a damsel in distress."

"Not any more, anyway," Itachi agreed, far too cheerfully.

The guards at the gate either recognized her or the boy carrying her, for they opened the gates for the pair without any protests. They did, however, stare openly as Itachi carried her through them and into the courtyard beyond, where Temari was relieved to spot her brother and the girl to whom he'd seemed to take a fancy: Hinata, or something like that.

"Gaara!" When she saw his bright red head turn to her, she slapped Itachi's shoulder and scowled. "Make him _put me down_!" She kicked out one foot to punctuate her point. _Wait'll you tangle with my brother. See how heroic you seem _then.

Scrambling to his feet, Gaara shifted his gaze from his wet sister to her equally soaked savior. "What happened?" he asked, ignoring his sister's protests. Temari felt her hopes sink as rapidly as she had in the water just a few minutes before.

"The lady here decided to take a swim," Itachi replied, shifting his grip on the still-squirming Temari. "After pulling her out of the water, I finally managed to get out of her where she was staying so I could bring her back here and make sure she's all right."

"I was perfectly fine!" Temari half-screeched, half-croaked. If he said _one more word_, she was going to grab a fistful of that (surprisingly beautiful, she grudgingly acknowledged) black hair and yank it out from the roots. _See how self-superior he is _then!

"You obviously can't swim," Itachi remarked. Fortunately for him, he didn't smile, or she very well might have followed through on her personal promise.

"That's not my fault! I'm from the desert - lakes aren't exactly around every corner where I live!" Humiliation - as well as realization of how close she'd _really_ come to dying - was beginning to sink in. But her pride wouldn't allow her to admit he _might_ be right. That would mean she would lose this little battle, and she hadn't lost a battle - whether verbal or physical - since she was five.

Gaara glanced back toward the mansion, his green eyes full of - wait, was that _concern_? For _her_? "Thank you for the help," he said, returning his gaze to his sister and the boy holding her. Whatever had been in his gaze before had vanished. "If you could just bring her into the house...?"

"I am perfectly capable of walking on my own two feet," Temari said icily. Her limbs were feeling a bit steadier, and though her head still felt a bit fuzzy, and her throat and chest tight and painful, she determined she would stand on her own two feet even if it killed her.

Without warning, Itachi dropped the arm holding her legs, allowing her to stand upright. Feeling as if the world had just dropped out from beneath her, Temari's feet landed on the grass with a squishy thud. _Success!_ Before she could make a smug remark, however, her knees buckled, and she felt herself falling frighteningly fast. Fortunately, Itachi still had his arm around her. He swung her back up into his arms again with little fuss. "You were saying?" he asked blithely.

Temari scowled but said nothing, subdued and humiliated beyond measure. _I am weak._

Gaara turned and started toward the house, Hinata walking alongside him on silent, slippered feet. "Thank you for saving my sister,...?" He tilted his head toward Itachi questioningly.

"Itachi. Uchiha Itachi." He nodded once, briefly, then slipped off his wet shoes when they reached the front porch of the house. Temari thought about kicking hers off - preferably on a trajectory that would make them impact Itachi's head - but decided not to at the last moment. "And I didn't really mind. I'm always willing to help-" he paused as if considering his words; Temari thought fiercely, _Don't say it again! Don't say it!_ - "a damsel in distress."

At this, Temari let out a low growling sound. "Why, you little-" She allowed her voice to drop as she spit out every vile curse she could think of. Hinata's already big eyes rounded; but that was the only reaction she got, the two boys apparently ignoring her.

"I'm Sabaku Gaara," her brother offered, raising his voice slightly to be heard over her tirade. "That's my sister, Temari. And this is Hyuuga Hinata, my friend."

Hinata curtsied slightly, then turned to head deeper into the house. Before she could call out, however, her mother appeared in the doorway, looking surprised to see the group in the entryway - then appalled at Temari and her rescuer's bedraggled state. She hurried over, her pale eyes wide with concern.

"Are you all right, dear?" she asked Temari, placing one hand against the blonde's forehead to feel for fever.

Temari resisted the urge to jerk away from the woman's touch. "I'm _fine_," she stressed. "This guy-" she slapped her hand against Itachi's shoulder "-overreacted." _And is making a big deal out of something I'd really rather wish we would all forget. Quickly._

Itachi looked unfazed. "She fell into the creek," he said. "I - ah - fished her out." The corner of his mouth tugged upwards in an only partially repressed smile. Temari curled her hand into a fist to repress the urge slap it off his face. Like it or not, he _had_ saved her, and she knew the stance her father would take on the issue. Undoubtedly she'd be made to _thank_ the smug jerk before they left Konoha. _Oh joy, oh fun, oh happiness. Can't we all just forgive and forget and move on like this never even happened?_

Lady Hoshi turned, at the same time motioning for Itachi to follow her. "Thank goodness it's warm," she said. "Please follow me. Don't worry, Temari, we'll have you dried out in no time."

The thought of dry clothes appealed so much Temari didn't protest as Itachi carried her through the house toward her quarters. But she refused to say anything to him, even after he laid her down on her pallet and backed away, murmuring a, "I hope you suffer no ill effects from your accident, Lady Temari," as he bowed.

The door closed behind him, and Temari prayed she would never, _ever_, have to see him again.

If she did, it would be far too soon - and she would most certainly _not_ be responsible for her actions.

* * *

***~Ten Years Later~***

* * *

Uchiha Itachi woke with the sunrise, lost somewhere between fragile hope and crushing despair.

Moving woodenly, he completed his morning ablutions and finished packing away his few belongings. _Ironic - the sum total of my life, tucked away in a single pack._ Lips curling lopsidedly at the thought, Itachi shouldered the pack and left the room in which he'd been all but confined for the past five long years.

He'd made his decisions, cast his lots, and considered the consequences a long time ago. He knew how this would play out, and though he'd always hoped differently, he was ready to accept things as being the way they were, and move on.

Literally.

Itachi swung by the kitchen just long enough to eat a healthy, filling breakfast he didn't taste. Ignoring the mingled curious and caustic stares focused on him, he slipped out the side door, around the house, to the courtyard where a woman, three horses and two escorts waited for him.

Senju Tsunade crossed her arms over her buxom chest and pinned Itachi with her intense amber eyes. Itachi stared back calmly, feeling numb in the face of her knowing look. Even though she knew the truth - the only one besides himself who did - he felt nothing past the respect she deserved.

His loyalties had changed now. The fact they'd been forced to do so through necessity, not choice, had nothing to do with his apathy. It was simply the way things were. He'd decided he would follow the course of things and merely hope for anonymity. Most particularly, the ability to walk down the street without feeling every suspicious glare prickling at the back of his neck. Without the ability to look at someone and know exactly what they were thinking about him.

_I am a shadow. I am invisible. I have chosen this life. It is my duty. It is my honor._ The words did not hold the same meaning, the same pride, as they had six years ago. His dead family had seen to that.

Tsunade's hard gaze drifted from his face, to the mount waiting for him, and then back. "You understand once you exit Konoha's gates, there's no coming back. If you are found within this village's walls once again, you will face imprisonment beyond that from which you were just released. Perhaps worse." Her threat needed no further description. Itachi's nightmares had done a perfectly fine job filling in the blank themselves.

"I understand." Bending at the waist, he bowed deeply to Lady Tsunade, only straightening when he heard her clear her throat. "It has been an honor to serve Konoha," he said, for her ears only. "Thank you for everything you have done for me."

Konoha's leader nodded her blonde head, the brief hint of softness in her eyes the response she couldn't verbalize. "Have a safe journey, Uchiha Itachi, and I wish you good fortune in your new village."

Itachi tilted his head in acknowledgement before swinging up into his saddle. The chestnut gelding he'd been granted leave to use nodded his head, eager to get moving. He couldn't work up the enthusiasm to match his mount's sentiment.

Due to the early hour, most of Konoha was still steeped in its daily wake-up routine, leaving the streets mercifully empty. The few people out and about, however, scurried to the sidelines and stared until Itachi, Hatake Kakashi, and Yamato Tenzou were far past. Keeping his gaze focused forward, Itachi kept his gelding reined in to a sedate walk and tried not to let the stares - or his own frightful anticipation - bother him.

His mind briefly flashed back to the dream from which he'd woken less than a half hour past. Strange, him remembering the day he'd saved Sabaku Temari from the creek. It had been a flashback to a brief window of time in his childhood, but a memory he jealously guarded nonetheless. He'd not spared a thought to the ungrateful little mermaid in years. Perhaps it was the fact he was soon to call her village his own home that made him dream of their one short encounter now.

The trio was almost to the massive wooden gates leading out of the village when Itachi finally saw him. Perched on a well-shaded branch high in a tree, Uchiha Sasuke stared with undisguised hatred as his older brother rode past, pretending not to see him.

_Take care of him._ Itachi breathed the unspoken plea into the early-morning stillness, addressed to the village in general. He'd given up the right to do so himself five years ago, on the night he'd lost his brother's respect and love.

And yet...

Shaking his head, Itachi passed beneath the arch marking Konoha's boundary, not daring to look back. _No matter what you think of me, how much you hate me, I will always love you._ It applied as much to the village of his birth as to his beloved little brother.

Behind him, the gates thudded shut, never to be opened to him again.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ Those of you who have read _Sunshine_ will recognize the first scene - I was excited to be able to write it from Temari's point of view! I'm also excited to have this opportunity to delve deeper into several things I was only able to allude to in _Shadows_ - the ninja world in general, Itachi and Temari's individual stories and their road to marriage, and the rest of the sequence of events which brought Hinata to Suna. Thank you again, so much, for reading _Light and Dark_, and I hope you enjoyed the prologue! I hope to see you again for the next update!


	2. The Desert

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _rao hyuga 18_, _Guest_, _Clovergirl100_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _haruhi65_, _OmNomNom 'smily-face_, and _greetingsfrommaars_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who's added this to their alert and favorite lists - I'm so excited to be starting out this journey with you all!

**Author's Note:** Not much to say about this chapter, other than Itachi and Temari finally come face-to-face again after a decade - and I get to set the scene for some fun stuff coming later! Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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***~Chapter I~***

_~The Desert~_

* * *

The hot desert wind ripped through her hair, roared in her ears, slapped across her face. Sabaku Temari clung to Kazedansu's neck as she pounded toward the finish line just ahead, each hoofbeat bringing the pair of them closer and closer to the victory they both so desired.

Today was her day. She could _feel_ it. Nothing would get between her and her desires. Nothing - absolutely _nothing_ - could bring her down.

_Victory is mine!_

Five more strides and they streaked past the line, ahead by several lengths. Grinning, Temari straightened in her saddle and gently tugged on her reins, slowing the unwilling Kazedansu. The mare tossed her head and roughly bounced through a few trotted paces, letting her mistress know her displeasure at being reined in. Ignoring her mount's fit of pique, Temari lifted her head to the early morning sun and grinned triumphantly. For the first time in four years, it felt like she'd finally outrun the ever-present darkness haunting her every waking - and sleeping - moment.

Reveling in her victory - and her freedom - Temari turned to grin at the man on horseback who had slowed to ride next to her. "Looks like Kazedansu and I are more ready for this race than you are," she taunted.

Sabaku Gaara looked at her askance, his wind-tousled hair shining as bloodred as his stallion's coat. "This is Kaen's first race," he replied. "We're saving his best speed for then."

"Hmm." Stroking her mare's sweaty neck, Temari savored her early taste of victory. "This may be Kaen's first race, but it's Kazedansu's last. She's going to go out in style, I tell you." After nearly thirteen years of being Temari's dependable mount for everything from racing to carrying her from village to village for missions, she knew Kazedansu deserved her upcoming retirement. But neither of them were willing to go through with it without one more shot at the annual race - and their fourth trophy together.

Gaara's response remained unspoken as one of the guards posted atop the wall to the left called down, "Riders approaching, Lord Gaara! I believe it's the envoy from Konoha."

"Envoy from _Konoha_?" Temari shot her brother a surprised look from the corner of her eye. "What in the world is going on?" It had been a decade since Temari had last heard the village's name. The unexpectedness of hearing it uttered now in her own home village unsettled her in a way she couldn't quite describe.

"One of Konoha's ninja has come to join our ranks." Gaara nodded an acknowledgement to the guard and reined Kaen around so he could head toward the stables.

Temari's grip on her reins went slack with shock, allowing Kazedansu the opportunity to follow after Kaen. "But they're-"

"His loyalties are not in question." Gaara's repressive tone implied he would say no more on the subject, and it would be best for all involved if she just dropped it.

But Temari didn't _want_ to drop the subject. Konoha remained a bad memory for her, the trip having been full of misfortune and disaster for her family. She harbored no doubts the Sabaku name lived on in infamy within those walls, part of a scandal which had followed them all the way back to Suna. She also disbelieved those in Konoha, unlike their fellow villagers, had forgiven and forgotten so easily. "Why here, though?" She deliberately pushed the issue - and her brother's temper - but she didn't care. She had to know _why_ the enemy had come to Suna, and why Gaara was accepting his presence so easily.

Lips thinning in displeasure, Gaara shot her a dark look out of the corner of his eye. "Because he is not so different from me," he said firmly. "He has been banned from ever returning to his home village. Suna is the closest ninja village to his own. He will be able to live here without being judged for the things of which he was accused."

"Which would be...?" Temari _needed_ to know.

"Something I will not speak about. He is coming here to get a fresh start, and I will not let his past be dredged up before he even sets foot in Suna." Sighing, Gaara dismounted Kaen and handed over the reins to a waiting stablehand, pausing until Temari did the same and joined him before going on. "I am depending on you to show him around Suna and introduce him to our way of doing things."

Temari grimaced: Not an entirely unexpected development, but certainly an unwelcome one. "Okay, I understand why you're assigning me this duty. But why didn't you tell me about all this _before_ he showed up on our doorstep?" They entered the cooler atmosphere of the house, and she let out a breath. A bath would definitely feel good right about now. Infinitely better than escorting around someone she didn't even want in her village.

Gaara stopped in the long hallway forming a bridge of sorts between the business and home portions of the Tower. Turning to face her fully, he said, "I understand why you feel the way you do about Konoha. But they're not _all_ bad, Temari. Within the next few years, we'll be forming an alliance with them, anyway. Learning how to get along with this ninja will help pave the way to better relations when Hinata comes." As had become the norm, his usually businesslike expression softened at the mention of his fiancée, with whom he'd become acquainted for a grand total of a few days during the aforementioned disastrous Konoha trip.

At the sight of Gaara's obvious softening, a rarity in and of itself, Temari felt her resolve to hate the new ninja weakening. Gaara was obviously fully committed to making this work, and once he set his mind on something, no one could talk him out of it. Not even her.

For better or worse, it would seem she was stuck with the new recruit. "All right," she sighed. "What do you want me to do with him?"

Nodding approvingly of her change in attitude, Gaara crossed his arms and shot a glance down the hallway to the closed double doors separating him from the stairway up to his office. "Show him around Suna. Get a feel for his abilities as a ninja."

Temari waited for more, but the one thing she expected to come first didn't come at all. "That's it? I'm not supposed to keep an eye on him?"

"If it makes you feel better, I suppose you can. But as he'll be staying in guest quarters here, at least for the first couple months of his stay, I don't think it will be necessary." Gaara nodded to her, then turned to go.

Feeling as if she'd suddenly been sent into the desert - alone, on foot, without food or water or any idea where she was going - Temari stared, openmouthed, at her brother. _You mean to tell me he's not just going to be in the village, but _here_, in our house?_ "Gaara! Why do you trust him so much?" she called after Gaara, just as he'd grasped the door handle.

Looking at her over his shoulder, he said simply, "Because he's risked everything to come here. What does he have to lose?"

Staring at the door, which Gaara had closed behind himself, Temari decided there really wasn't a better answer than that.

Didn't mean she had to like it, though...

* * *

Itachi had traveled through the desert before on his way toward other villages for missions. He'd never once in all that time, though, thought he'd make his _home_ in the arid middle of it. As if in promise of worse to come the coarse sand and powdery dust worked their way through his clothing, itching uncomfortably at his skin as he, Kakashi, and Yamato were escorted through halls and up steps to the office of the leader of Suna.

Meeting Sabaku Gaara for the second time in his life - noting how the young man wore his maturity like a mask - Itachi searched for any hint of recognition in the other man's face or eyes. Did he remember their one meeting a decade before? Or did Itachi wear his own circumstances like a mask that turned him into a completely different person than the one who had encountered the young boy?

From his place in the chair behind the desk - one of only five pieces of furniture in the surprisingly large room - Gaara met Itachi's eyes squarely, no hint of the thoughts going through his mind visible in their green depths. "It has been a long time."

_He does recognize me._ Feeling oddly gratified, Itachi bent into a bow and then looked up with a smile. "So it has, Lord Gaara. Thank you for agreeing to receive me into Suna." Lady Tsunade had informed him all details were taken care of, that his citizenship - and place in the ranks of Suna's ninja - were guaranteed. But still, Itachi didn't want to seem forward or presumptuous. Gaara had had ample time to change his mind.

Gaara stood from behind his desk and nodded to Itachi's escorts, a silent dismissal. When the two had exited, leaving Itachi and Gaara alone in the room, the redhead came around to stand before Itachi. "Lady Tsunade informed me of the details-" he hesitated a moment, then added an emphasis on his next word when he continued "-_all_ the details, of your circumstances. Thus far, I am the only person in Suna who knows the true story. It is your choice whether you choose to inform anyone else of your background."

The fewer people who knew the truth, the better. He thought it highly unlikely he'd ever find someone with whom he could - or _would_ - share the truth of what happened the night the majority of the Uchiha died. Itachi bit back that bitter confession and bowed his head in acknowledgement. "Thank you for your discretion, Lord Gaara."

Turning, Gaara picked up a box from his desk and held it out. "Inside you'll find the paperwork you need to sign to declare yourself an official resident of Suna. Also included is the usual paperwork to be filled out to join our ninja forces, though I've already issued you an identification badge and a headband, which you'll also find inside." He motioned to the surface of his desk. "You may fill out the paperwork here, now, if you wish. Or you can fill it out later and return it to me within the next few days, after you've had a chance to look around and get settled in."

For the hundredth time in the past few days, Itachi wondered just how, exactly, Lady Tsunade had persuaded Gaara into so willingly allowing him to join Suna's ranks. Being a hardened realist, he didn't believe for a moment an appeal to sentiment had had any part in it at all. She would have had to make a solid case for how he would be of concrete benefit to Suna. Closely as he looked he saw no evidence of mistrust in the other man's face, and felt more than a little surprised there been no mention of a trial or probation period. From how the lord of Suna spoke, he fully anticipated Itachi to be approved to go out on a mission for his new home village as early as the moment the ink dried on his paperwork.

As Itachi pulled the two packets of paper from the box and reached for a pen, Gaara returned to his side of the desk and rearranged a few folders. "I've arranged for my sister to show you around," he said.

Itachi's breath stalled in his chest for just a moment. _Temari_. An image of fiery teal eyes, thick golden hair, and an extremely disapproving frown flashed through his mind, but he firmly pushed it away. He was not in Suna to renew acquaintances, especially not with those who hated him upon first sight. He'd come to make a new start - for both himself and, by his absence from Konoha, his little brother. "I remember her," he said evenly.

"She is hard to forget," Gaara said dryly. Without giving Itachi a chance to respond to his surprising comment, he continued, "She'll also spar with you at some point, so we can get a feel for your abilities. I'll also likely send you out together for your first few missions, especially if you work well together over the next few days."

Resisting the urge to voice his doubt on that front, Itachi blew on the shiny ink of his last signature and then pushed the papers across the desk to Lord Gaara. "Very well, milord. Thank you again for this opportunity." It was far more than he had expected or deserved.

Gathering the papers, Gaara tapped them twice against the desk before sliding them into a folder which he set aside. "Thank you for pledging your loyalty to Suna," he replied, his words containing a clear dismissal.

The moment Itachi stepped through the door out of the office, he froze in surprise. Standing just a few steps away, sharing a stilted conversation with Kakashi and Yamato, stood a person exactly like yet completely different from the one he'd met ten years before.

He knew the moment he laid eyes on her he was looking at Sabaku Temari. She'd grown taller, her curves rounding attractively into womanhood. And yet her hair, tied up in four distinctive ponytails, was just as gold as he remembered; her eyes still flashed with the defiant fire he'd immediately keyed on the first time he looked into them. Her lightly tanned complexion, as smooth and flawless as a doll's, instantly shifted from an emotionless mask to shocked fury when she finally took notice of him.

"You!" Hands clenched into fists at her side, she charged toward him, her fury strong enough to knock him back a step.

Brushing past him, she slammed angrily into her brother's office, voice raised enough he could hear every word she said. "Why didn't you tell me it was _him_?"

Though Itachi tried not to listen, he still heard Gaara's response. "Because I knew exactly how you'd react. He is a permanent part of Suna now, Temari. As permanent as you or me." He didn't raise his voice, but his words held the same impact as they would have if he had.

Temari sighed loudly. "I haven't spared a single thought - well, okay, maybe I have once or twice, but not seriously, and not for a while - for him in ten years. And suddenly now he's back in my life, and you don't even think it necessary to _warn_ me?"

"He saved your life ten years ago. I thought over the years your anger would have eased." Something thudded, and then Gaara continued. "You are the best person for this job, Temari. Like it or not, right now you're the one other person in this village he shares an acquaintance with. I know it's not much, but this is his home now, and I want to do what I can to make his transition easier. I know if I were in his place, I'd be grateful. And I suspect you would be, too."

Itachi stared at a spot on the wall across from him, wondering if Gaara read minds. A part of him _had_ been hoping Temari would be the one to show him around, since he'd met her and been fascinated by her before. Though he had hoped her anger had eased in the intervening decade. Apparently it had instead grown even stronger...

A moment later Temari appeared in the doorway, her smooth expression offering no hints about what she thought or felt. Her eyes flicked over Itachi once from head to toe, a glance full of professionalism and no personal curiosity whatsoever.

He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or insulted.

"You'll want to have a chance to settle into your new quarters," Temari said at last, brushing past him and taking off down the hall. Taking her comment as an invitation to follow, he fell into step next to her, automatically memorizing each turn they took so he'd know his way around. "Once you've had a chance to do that, I'll show you around Suna so you can get a feel for the village, like a local. You know - the best places to shop in the marketplace, the best places to eat, things like that."

At least she wasn't treating him like a tourist. "Thank you."

They passed through a huge set of double doors; Itachi instantly felt the shift in the atmosphere. Even though the décor had not changed - shades of brown dominated every direction he looked - he sensed a lessening in formality here. They'd passed from a place of business into an abode.

Keeping the pace brisk, Temari motioned vaguely with one hand as they half-charged down the hall. "Dining room's that way. Kitchen's next door. At the end of that hall's the library, and you go down that way if you want to find the training rooms. We've got weights, rope courses, and other various training tools." They went up a flight of stairs - big surprise, also brown - and turned right at the landing.

"This is the floor we hold in reserve for guests," Temari said stiffly. Her tone implied they did not have many. "Your room is the fourth down this hall." She abruptly halted in front of the door in question, reaching for the knob with one hand as she glanced over her shoulder at him. "If you have any questions, there are servants running around all day. The night staff is mostly comprised of guards."

_Nice,_ Itachi thought dryly. Her final comment implied he was housed in the safest place in all of Suna - and also made it clear he wouldn't be able to sneak around, or even out. "Thank you, Lady Temari."

She tilted her blonde head in acknowledgement, then stepped back to allow him around her. "I'll leave you alone to get settled in," she said. As she started back down the hall, she called over her shoulder, "I'll meet you at the bottom of the staircase in an hour." With that parting comment, she vanished around the corner.

Not exactly a warm welcome, but Itachi hadn't really been expecting one. Stepping into his quarters, he closed the door and gave the space a cursory glance. As expected, the room was decorated in various shades of brown, though the rust red trim pleasantly surprised him. The small sitting room, fully furnished, looked comfortable and welcoming.

...Then again, anything would after a nearly nonstop trip from Konoha, the last half of which included a trek through the desert playing hide-and-go-seek with a sandstorm.

Swinging his pack off his shoulder, Itachi crossed the room and poked his head through the open door leading to the bedroom. Again, shades of brown and red with the occasional touch of black met his roaming gaze. Since he was staying a while, was he allowed to redecorate? Or was it too early to ask for such privileges?

Dropping his pack next to the bed, Itachi planted his hands on his hips and looked around. _So, this is where I'll be staying for the forseeable future._ He couldn't bring himself to call this place - these quarters, this building, this _village_ - home. He just couldn't do it.

He had a feeling no matter how hard the tried, he wouldn't be able to think of anywhere but Konoha as home.

Kneeling next to his pack, Itachi withdrew his old headband from it. He should have left it in Konoha, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to do it. So holding it in one hand, and his new one from Suna in the other, he closed his eyes and let out his breath.

_I am a shadow. I am invisible. I have chosen this life. It is my duty. It is my honor._

_I am a ninja of Suna, and I will give my all to her and her people. No matter what the cost._

Stuffing his Konoha headband back into his pack, Itachi laid the one from Suna on his nightstand and tried to convince himself he was doing the right thing.

It was, after all, his only choice.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ Kind of an explosive beginning - so exciting! I was _so_ happy to be able to write Itachi and Temari's meeting again after a decade, plus do some subtle setting up for some rather exciting stuff to come later. Also, to those of you still inquiring about a sequel to _Shadows_ - still nothing yet, but don't give up hope - I know I haven't! (Okay, I'll admit it - I'm just not ready to let this universe go. I'm having so much fun exploring all its nooks and crannies!) Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope to see you all again for the next update!

_**Author's Ending Notes**_** 2**: A quick note on the meaning of Gaara and Temari's horses' names. _Kaen_ means _flame_, and _Kazedansu_ means Wind Dancer (I took the two words and just put them together for easier typing). Thanks for reading!


	3. Overtures

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _rao hyuga 18_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _Guest_, _greetingsfrommaars_, and _Goddess of the VioletMoon _for all your wonderful, encouraging reviews! And also thank you to everyone who's added this story to their favorites and alert lists - you all are amazing!

**Author's Note:** Sometimes it's hard, making myself stick to my own story outline. There're so many exciting things I want to get to, but it's really important for me to set them up first so they make sense later. This is one of those chapters - and the chapter title reflects that. (_Thank you_ to my beta, Mama Jo, for helping me come up with it when I was stuck!) I really hope you enjoy this chapter, and thanks for reading!

* * *

***~Chapter II~***

_~Overtures~_

* * *

Having no great expectations of what Suna would be like, Itachi felt no disappointment as he experienced the village for the first time. Swathed in layers of robes and headscarves against the smothering heat and the itchy sand, people went about business as usual. Dressed as they were he at least felt anonymous, if not comfortable. Would he ever get used to this place?

As if reading his mind, Temari glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as they wended their way through the crowded marketplace. "You'll get used to it," she said.

_Am I that transparent?_ Itachi licked his lips, which already felt dry to the verge of cracking even though they hadn't been out for more than a half hour, if that long. "Is it always this hot and dry and sandy?" He went ahead and asked the stupid question she seemed to be expecting, at the same time genuinely hoping there might be some relief to look forward to from at least one, if not all three, at some point.

"Usually. The only difference is when sandstorms blow through. Then we all batten down the hatches and stay inside until it's over." Temari sidestepped a group of laughing children winding their way around and through the crowd, then adjusted the cream colored scarf around her neck so it draped just beneath her chin.

"We had to go out of our way to avoid one on the way here," Itachi admitted. He hoped it had cleared up so Kakashi and Yamato, who had already begun their trek back to Konoha, wouldn't be delayed by it again. "How often do these sandstorms blow through?"

"Two or three a month," Temari replied with a careless wave of her hand. "But only a few of them in a year amount to anything significant. The others usually last a day or so before they blow right on through."

"And the bad ones?" Itachi eyed a stall stocked with gourds, wondering if the containers, intricately decorated in muted colors, held any liquid. He felt as parched as the ground upon which he tread.

Temari's expression turned thoughtful, and she gazed somewhere off in the distance as she replied. "Usually they last three or four days. We've only had one _really_ bad one in recent years: The week Gaara was born, we had a _shukaku_ - a demon of the desert. It lasted almost six days, and we had to do extensive cleanup and repair after it was over." She sighed, her eyes flickering darkly as her shapely lips turned downward in a frown. "My mother died giving birth to Gaara in the middle of that sandstorm. A lot of people - my father included - saw it as an omen."

Itachi wasn't particularly superstitious, but he had to admit he could see how some would see something like that as a Really Bad Thing. "I'm sorry about your mother," he said softly.

She shot him a quick, surprised look out of the corner of her eye, as if she hadn't expected him to say such a thing. Just as quickly, she glanced away, a hint of pink appearing along her delicate cheekbones. "Thanks," she said softly. "It was a long time ago, but - thanks."

Abruptly, she glanced upwards, squinting at the harsh rays of sunlight beating down like physical blows on the tops of their heads and shoulders. "Enough of the marketplace," she decided. "Come on - I'll take you to the best place to eat in the village." She hesitated, then gave him a wry grin. "My treat."

Too thirsty to argue, Itachi followed her out of the market district, which smoothly transitioned into a Restaurant Row between one street and the next. Instead of the smells of wood and fabric (and dry dust), the scents of food filled his nose. His eyes nearly rolled back in his head. More than any other part of Suna, this felt most like home, even _smelling_ remarkably like Konoha. His mother's favorite adage about food being an international language brought a smile to his lips and a pang to his heart.

Passing up several fine-looking eateries, Temari led Itachi into a squat little round-roofed place. The only sign proclaiming the place an eatery hung tacked to the door, looking old and worn yet still somehow welcoming. Inside, almost every table was full, and the happy buzz of conversations twined with the smell of delicious food in the air.

"Temari!" The squeal rose above the sounds of people dining. A petite woman with blonde hair only a few shades lighter than Temari's shot out from behind the counter and hurried across the room to embrace Itachi's escort. "It's been so long since you were here last, I was beginning to think you'd found somewhere you liked better!"

To Itachi's surrpise, Temari threw back her head and laughed. While he was still marveling over the sound - rich and full yet still distinctly feminine - she shook her head. "I could never find a place better than here, Sumi."

Sumi's dusky blue eyes flashed in Itachi's direction, and she offered him a friendly smile. "Temari, have you _finally_ found someone?" she asked, sounding thrilled.

As quickly as it appeared, Temari's smile vanished. Unwinding the scarf from around her neck, she said, "This is Suna's newest resident, Uchiha Itachi. Itachi, this is my friend and the owner of this restaurant, Sumi."

Understanding flashed through Sumi's eyes. Itachi sensed she realized he was a ninja as she offered a little bow. "Pleasure to meet you," she said. "Any friend of Temari's is a friend of mine. Come on in any time."

Itachi murmured a "thank you" even while expecting Temari to make it clear the two of them were anything but friends. Instead, she fully removed her headscarf and shoved a loose lock of blonde hair off her face. "Need some help, Sumi?"

Glancing back toward the counter, Sumi shook her head. "I hired someone new for the kitchen, and she's doing a good job keeping up with the rush. You two go ahead and have a seat, and I'll be along shortly with some tea." With another smile, she bowed slightly and then hurried off.

Temari led Itachi through the cozy eatery to a small table along the right side wall. After sliding off their shoes, they sat down opposite each other and busied themselves with menus so they wouldn't have to try to converse. Awkwardness hung between them like a (very thick, very heavy) veil, and Itachi fought back a frown. _Lord Gaara is under the impression we're going to get along. He must know something I don't..._

Sumi dropped off their tea and took their orders, then fluttered off to the kitchen again. Meeting his curious gaze across the table, Temari arched one eyebrow and sighed, "You're dying to ask a question. I can practically hear it. Go on, ask."

He hadn't meant to be so obvious, but already Itachi could tell this woman he barely knew could read him better than just about any other person of his acquaintance. "All right. No offense, but you and Sumi seem so - different. How did you come to be friends?"

Chuckling into her teacup, Temari took a sip before lowering it back down to the tabletop. "Sumi and I _are_ about as different as any two people can possibly be," she agreed. Just as quickly as it appeared, her good mood vanished, replaced by a cold look he sensed covered a good deal of pain. "We didn't meet until around four years ago. Her husband was a ninja, and we'd been assigned to a mission together." She hesitated, gaze drifting across the room to where Sumi smiled cheerfully at a group of people seated at a nearby table. "The mission went - wrong. Very wrong. He was killed in action. Since I was the other person on the mission, I felt it was my duty to come tell Sumi what happened."

Itachi kept his mouth shut, though he wished he could offer her some words of comfort, to relieve the haunting weight of pain and guilt shadowing her eyes. He had no idea what had happened on the mission, but having seen more than his fair share of comrades die during missions, he had a feeling whatever her own personal take on it, it hadn't been her fault. Sometimes no matter how good the ninja and how thorough the preparations things just went _wrong_, and beating yourself up over it did no good. He would always remember his fallen friends and comrades; but he'd learned not to let their deaths stop _him_ from living, hard though it had been.

Temari went on, "Sumi already had this place, even back then. She'd taken it over from her retired parents, and whenever her husband wasn't out on missions, they'd work here together. Even though my news understandably crushed her, she's kept going. She's worked really hard to make this one of the most popular places to eat in Suna, small though it is, in honor of her husband." She let out her breath on a long sigh, glazed eyes staring down at her teacup, which she spun around and around between her hands. "I come and help out sometimes, whenever Sumi gets really busy. It's - it's the least I can do to make up for what happened."

He opened his mouth to respond, but Sumi appeared then with their orders. Now he knew what to look for, Itachi saw the shadow of pain in her eyes, the lines of loss etched into her pretty features. But he wisely made no remark, instead thanking her for the food before she fluttered away to the next table.

They both tucked into their meals. Obviously forcing away her melancholy, Temari looked up at him with a strained smile. "What do you think?" she asked.

Itachi swallowed quickly. "Of the food, or Suna?" He knew what she meant, but he couldn't help asking anyway. He wanted so desperately to draw her out of her shell, to get to know the woman she'd become.

"Either. Both." Temari dangled her chopsticks over her plate, piercing teal eyes focused entirely on him.

Carefully setting down his own utensils, Itachi cleared his throat. "The food is an easy answer - it's delicious. As for Suna..." He trailed off, considering his answer. There were a lot of things he could say, but he wanted to find the right ones. "It's a lot different than Konoha. It'll take some getting used to. The anonymity factor, I must admit, is a big plus."

Temari studied him intently, as if to discern the things he hadn't said. At last she released him from her gaze so she could turn her attention back to her food. "It _is_ easy to blend in here," she said at length. "Going around swathed in layers of robes and scarves does tend to help that."

Feeling grateful she hadn't asked him _why_ he wanted to be so anonymous, Itachi nodded. "That's one thing I'm going to miss about ho - _Konoha_," he stressed. "Just being able to slip on some shoes and walk outside. Here, I've got to put on what feels like half a dozen layers before I can even open the door."

Humor lit Temari's eyes, and she grinned crookedly at him. "Not quite _that_ extreme," she replied around her muffled laughter. "But yes, I'll admit it does feel inconvenient, having to wrap up before going outside. I've done it all my life, and I still have periods where I wish I could just put on my shoes and _go_, and not have to fool with all the gear." She motioned idly to where her robes and headscarf lay folded neatly on the cushion next to her. "But you'll eventually get used to it."

He'd eventually get used to a lot of things, he knew. As he turned back to his meal, Itachi thought the one thing he might never get used to was how beautiful Temari looked when she smiled.

* * *

_Thought I'd never be rid of him!_

As soon as the thought appeared in her mind, Temari felt ashamed of herself. As she ascended the stairs between the guest level and the one on which she, Gaara, and their brother, Kankuro, kept their rooms, she felt guilty for being so uncharitable. Itachi had been nothing but polite to her. He'd seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say. He'd asked intelligent questions, and even teased her a bit.

Already, she felt her resolve to hate him weakening.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Temari slapped her leg with her folded-up scarf, torn between relief and chagrin. Itachi had mentioned how tired he felt after his three-day trip, which he and his escorts had taken at a nearly nonstop pace, on top of touring Suna. He had asked if they could delay their sparring match until tomorrow, and while Temari had agreed, she wished she could dump the task off on someone else. Why did Gaara want _her_ to deal with Itachi, especially since he knew how much she hated Konoha in general, and him in particular?

_What is my baby brother up to?_

A growl built deep in her chest as she slammed through the door into her quarters. "Of all the ridiculous, inconsiderate-!" She broke off, immediately sensing all was not as she'd left it in her room. Dropping her scarf, she withdrew a kunai from the pouch strapped to her waist, sharp eyes quickly scanning the room.

She relaxed immediately when she saw the bowing figure standing next to her closed bedroom door. "Matsuri." Letting out her breath, Temari returned her kunai to its pouch and shook her head. "What are you doing here?"

The mousy brown-haired girl, only a year or two younger than Gaara, had very early in her life showed a natural affinity for the ninja arts. Gaara himself had trained her for a long time, helping her hone her skills, though she'd only gone on a handful of missions since then.

Straightening from her bow, Matsuri kept her gaze respectfully lowered as she answered. "Lord Gaara sent me, milady. I'm supposed to act as your lady's maid."

Irritation flared in Temari as she closed the door and picked up her scarf. "What? Why?" She'd been taking care of herself for many years now, thank you very much. What made Gaara think she needed a lady's maid all of a sudden?

Matsuri's brown eyes flashed up briefly to meet Temari's. "He said he needs me to learn how to act like one, so when Lady Hinata arrives, I can serve as her lady's maid and bodyguard."

Of course it would turn out to be something to do with Gaara's absent fiancée. Brushing past Matsuri, Temari opened her bedroom door and entered, heading straight for the clothes hamper in the corner. "We might as well start calling ourselves an outpost for Konoha, the way we're being overrun by them," she muttered to herself.

Behind her, Matsuri timidly inquired, "Milady?"

"Nothing." Slamming the lid of the hamper, Temari pivoted to stare at the young girl. She'd never held an opinion on Matsuri, one way or the other. She'd always seemed shy and withdrawn, except for the hero worship glowing on her face whenever Gaara's name was spoken, or - even more so - when the man himself entered the room. The few times the two women had interacted, Matsuri had always been polite but distant.

"Gaara failed to inform me about this - development," Temari said. _And I know why. He knew if he told me, I'd answer back with a resounding _no_. Why do _I_ have to deal with such an intrusion? Can't Matsuri learn the ropes whenever Hinata finally gets here?_ She already knew the answer to that question, though. One, she was the only high-clan female residing in the house, and two, Gaara wanted everything to be perfect when his betrothed arrived.

Cheeks turning pink, Matsuri murmured, "I'm sorry, milady. He told me you knew I was coming."

"Of _course_ he did." Curving her hand around her aching forehead, Temari swept her room with a hopeless glance. "Okay, if you're going to be here, we're going to have to lay down some ground rules. I like to pick out my own clothes, and I'm perfectly capable of dressing myself. Same goes for bathing. When I need you, I'll call you." _What else does a lady's maid do, anyway?_ Having never had one before, she found herself a little clueless about such duties. "Ah - I guess you can help me choose jewelry, if I decide to wear any. And you can maybe help with my hair, too, I suppose." Gaara might not like it, but Temari just couldn't deal with such a huge invasion of her privacy.

Looking relieved, Matsuri curtsied. "Very good, milady."

Temari felt her left eyelid twitch. "Stop calling me that." Her _mother_ had always been _milady_. She was just - _Temari_. Always had been, always would be.

Expression crumpling, Matsuri nodded mutely.

Feeling a bit like she'd kicked a puppy, Temari sighed and took a few steps closer to the girl. "You'll do fine," she said, hoping she sounded reassuring. "I just didn't expect this, that's all. And it's been a bit of a trying day, so your showing up here..." She trailed off.

A shadow of a smile flitted across Matsuri's lips. "I understand." Folding her hands in front of her properly, she continued, "Do your require anything at the moment?"

She looked longingly at her bed. A nap before dinner sounded good. But first... "Some tea and some medicine for a headache, I think," she said. "And then I'm going to take a nap before dinner. If you could come back about fifteen minutes before then to wake me up, that should give me enough time to get ready."

Matsuri bobbed another curtsy. "Right away." Turning, she slipped soundlessly from the room, closing the door behind herself.

Letting out her breath, Temari quickly changed into a pair of loose pants and a sleeveless top before crawling into her bed. Flopping one arm over her eyes, she let out her breath and forced her body to relax, starting with the tips of her toes and working her way upwards.

She was nearly asleep by the time Matsuri returned. Rousing just long enough to accept the cup and pills, Temari waved off the girl before taking the medicine and then curling up atop her covers, face turned away from the light streaming in through the narrow windows high on the walls across the room.

_I'll talk to Gaara about Matsuri at dinner,_ Temari decided fuzzily. _Maybe I'll even be able to talk him out of this foolishness. I don't need a lady's maid..._

It didn't take her long to drift off to sleep, her tiredness aided by the stresses of the day and her headache. She drifted along the edges of a true, deep sleep for a while, vaguely aware of the nightmarish memories hovering insidiously at the periphery of her mind, but unable to fight them off.

Temari awoke with a strangled gasp, hands scrambling desperately to shove at a crushing weight of water which wasn't there. Shaking her head sharply, she ignored the lingering ache as she lifted one shaky hand to her throat, still feeling the fiery pain of water sliding down her throat and filling her lungs.

_Go away!_ She thought fiercely. _I thought I'd taken care of you. Why are you back?_

On the heels of that bitter thought came another:_ Itachi_. His arrival in Suna had reminded her of her near-drowning experience a decade before, stirring up those hated memories again.

Crawling out of bed, she half-staggered across the floor to the washroom, where she wet a cloth with cool water and pressed it against her face. She ignored the drips which ran down her neck and soaked into her top, too busy battling back the fierce return of her old nightmare, and the constant hovering darkness.

Lowering the cloth, Temari met her own eyes in the mirror above the sink. She saw the hatred blazing in them; but beyond it, she glimpsed the fear she always pretended didn't exist.

_Curse you, Uchiha Itachi_, she thought venomously. _Why did you have to come into my home and ruin _everything_?_

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ I'm _so_ excited, because I was able to set up a lot of important (and, yes, exciting!) things coming later in the story in this chapter. Kudos to those of you who picked up on the tiny little clues I dropped! Seriously, I'm so excited I'm spazzing out. _Anyway_, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again for the next update!


	4. Fight

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _rao hyuga 18_, _McKazekage_, _Guest_, _greetingsfrommaars_, and _TheGirlWithNoIQ_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who's added this story to their favorite and follows lists - you all are _amazing_!

**Author's Note:** Surprise! I updated early because one, I'm _really_ super excited about this chapter (especially the second scene!), and two, I wanted to let you all know to keep a lookout for a special _oneshot_ sequel to _Shadows_, which I'll be posting on Mother's Day (this Sunday), entitled _Dawn_. So for those of you wanting a sequel - I'm happy to say I came up with one, and am really excited about it! In the meantime, thank you so much for reading _Light and Dark_, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

***~Chapter III~***

_~Fight~_

* * *

Temari entered the dining hall, poker face firmly in place, but to her surprise, Itachi wasn't there. As she hesitated in the doorway, Kankuro caught sight of her and grinned wickedly. "You're late!" he cried gleefully. Being the one who usually came skidding into the room at the last moment, he obviously found great amusement in the fact his prompt older sister was the late one this time.

Frowning, Temari marched across the room to her accustomed seat, wishing she could throw something at Kankuro. "Our guest isn't joining us?"

Gaara waited for Temari to be seated before sliding into his own. "He's going to take his meal in his quarters tonight. But he assures me he'll be well-rested and ready to spar with you when you set a time."

_Well, at least I won't have to face him until tomorrow._ Picking up her chopsticks, Temari nodded silent understanding as she reached for a bite of rice.

"How'd the tour go?" Kankuro asked, his dark eyes wide with curiosity and excitement. Though he'd not been present for Temari's disgraceful reapparance at the Hyuuga manor ten years ago, or Itachi's arrival earlier, he'd heard a lot about the man and well knew his sister's extreme dislike.

"He asked a bunch of questions. I answered them to the best of my ability." Temari sensed Gaara's expectant gaze on her and sighed, resigned to having to go into detail. She briefly rolled her eyes up in a glance at the ceiling. "He's a quick study. He picked up on things very rapidly, and even managed to answer some of his own questions before I had a chance. I warned him about the occasional sandstorms, and he said he and his escorts had to dodge one on the way here. He knows what to do."

Gaara nodded thoughtfully. "You took him to Sumi's?" he asked.

It was a rhetorical question, but Temari answered anyway. "Of course. Itachi liked the food, and Sumi liked Itachi." She _just_ resisted making a face as she remembered her friend's question. _The two of us in a relationship? Not likely. We couldn't have been giving off that vibe, so whatever made her ask such a thing?_

Kankuro, of course, keyed in on the expression Temari evidently failed to completely control. "Sparks?"

"No." Having had more than enough of thinking about Itachi in a romantic light - even for her friend - Temari did make a face, then popped a piece of broccoli in her mouth to delay having to say more. She made a great show of chewing it, hoping her brothers would drop the subject.

No such luck, as per usual. "Have you set up a time to spar?" Gaara asked. He nailed her with his intense green eyes, chopsticks resting casually against the edge of his plate.

Temari swallowed and fastidiously patted her lips with her napkin before replying. "Yes. Tomorrow."

Her brother's eyes narrowed slightly. "Morning? Afternoon? Evening?"

Before Temari could offer a flippant response, Kankuro interrupted. "Why's this so important, Gaara?" Just the question Temari had been wanting to ask, so this time she stared back at Gaara expectantly.

"Lady Tsunade presented him as one of Konoha's most talented ninja," the head of the Sabaku replied calmly. Setting down his chopsticks, he reached for his teacup, pausing before drinking so he could continue. "I want to see if she was exaggerating or if it's true."

Kankuro nodded, satisfied with his brother's response.

_Does Gaara think the leader of Konoha's just wanting to get rid of a lemon, and that's why she sent him to us?_ Temari couldn't tell just by looking at Gaara's typically blasé expression, but she didn't want to ask the question. "I have no doubt he'll be down for breakfast, so we'll work out a time then."

Gaara didn't reply, instead focusing intently on his meal. He seemed distracted, and occasionally he touched the tips of his fingers to his temple, as if he were battling a headache. Temari wondered if the Council were after him for something else - it wouldn't be the first time. Those old geezers were enough to give even the most patient person in Suna a migraine. Or send them to a nice, pretty white padded room in the hospital's basement.

After making sure his brother didn't want to say anything further on the subject, Kankuro turned to Temari. Eyes narrow and mouth twisted in a rakish grin, she knew what he was going to say before he did so. "So, Temari, why were you so late coming to dinner, hmm?"

She glanced at Gaara out of the corner of her eye, but he ignored her, lost in his own private world. Sighing, she turned back to Kankuro, "If you must know, I was tired. And my lady's maid," she shot a malignant glare at her still-oblivious brother, "wanted to fuss over my hair before I came." She scowled, reaching up to touch the uncomfortable twist Matsuri had forced her blonde locks into.

Kankuro's eyebrows shot up. "Lady's maid?" He half-snorted into his tea. "Since when do _you_ have a lady's maid?"

Evidently Gaara wasn't as out of it as he'd appeared. He said, "Matsuri is training with Temari so when Hinata arrives, she will be able to handle her duties quickly and efficiently."

_Of course Gaara would choose _now_ to pay attention to the conversation._ Turning to the redhead, she decided to make a plea for her freedom, though she had a feeling it would be pointless. "Why can't Matsuri learn from someone else? It's not like I've had a lady's maid before. I don't know what to do with one, or even if she's doing things right."

"She already knows what to do." Gaara pulled his napkin from his lap and tossed it onto the table next to his half-empty plate. "She learned everything she needed to know from the woman who used to serve as Mother's lady's maid. But knowing what to do and putting it into practice are two entirely different things." Pushing back his chair, he murmured a quick, "Excuse me," and then hurried away before Temari could voice another protest.

"What's eating him?" Kankuro asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously as he gazed after the redhead.

"I have no idea." Temari took another bite of rice, secretly thinking, _But I bet it's got something to do with the newest member of our household. Whether Gaara wants to admit it or not, Uchiha's coming here has thrown our normal way of doing things off-kilter. I bet anything we'll _all_ be glad when he finally either moves out or gives up._

Kankuro filled the silence with casual chatter for the rest of their mealtime. Temari only half-listened, looking forward to when she could excuse herself and go back to her room, though she wasn't sure how good a night's sleep she would get if her nightmares really were back.

* * *

Itachi heard the fight before he saw it.

The sound of feet scuffling on the floor; short, sharp pants; and wood meeting wood greeted him as he entered the workout room Temari had referenced the day before, wondering if he'd gotten the time wrong and showed up too early for their sparring appointment.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the action on the _tatami_ mats spread across the open center of the floor. Most particularly, he focused on Temari, who stood in the center of half a dozen people, both male and female, taking turns attacking her individually and in groups.

Temari moved with graceful, deadly intent, not a single motion wasted as she ducked, jabbed, avoided, retaliated, _danced_ among her attackers. The bō staff in her hands turned into a dark blur as she took out each "enemy" one by one.

At the end of the fight, those knocked down stood and bowed to each other and Temari, then moved to the back of the room in single file to put away their own staffs. Itachi only glanced at their procession before settling his gaze on the blonde still standing in the center of the room.

Leaning casually against the staff which stood several inches taller than her, Temari studied him through narrow eyes. Though a thin sheen of sweat sparkled on her skin, she didn't seem too out of breath as she watched him, obviously waiting for him to speak or make the first move.

Itachi waited until they were alone, ignoring the curious looks cast at him as each person filed past him out the door. "Impressive," he said evenly. Even back when he first met her, he'd had a feeling Temari was a good fighter. As recently as last night, he'd wondered what her fighting style might be, what her strengths and weaknesses were, how she would react to this or that move. But he had to admit just from coming in at the end of her little demonstration, he had underestimated her skills.

...But he was still _reasonably_ certain he could beat her.

The corner of Temari's mouth kicked up in a sardonic grin. "Scared yet?" Picking up her bō staff, she easily whirled it in a circle over her head, her opaque turquoise eyes still focused on him.

Itachi allowed his own lips to quirk up slightly as he slid out of his shoes and headed across the room to pick his own weapon. "Not even slightly." He took a moment to admire the craftmanship of each staff, picking up and testing several before deciding on one the same height as Temari's, made of a darkly-stained wood with slightly worn gold patterns painted on the ends. Its weight and balance felt just right in his hand as he went to stand directly across from Temari.

She held hers crossways in front of her, grasped firmly in both hands. The lighter brown of its wood complemented her tanned skin, and close-up, Itachi noticed the staff looked well-worn, as if she used it often. From what he'd seen earlier, he understood why. "Need some time to warm up?" she asked.

"I warmed up while I was walking over here." He'd passed very few people on the way, so he hadn't felt silly doing stretches and things while he walked. "I'm ready to go when you are." Itachi switched the staff from one hand to the other, then back, his movements just as quick and sharp, though not as flamboyant, as Temari's.

Her teal eyes glinted with an obvious challenge. "No time like the present, then." Temari slid her right foot back, settling her weight into a fighting stance as she repositioned her staff, ready for action. The end of her weapon pointed straight towards his face like an accusing finger.

Itachi mirrored her movements, allowing his breath to flow in and out in an even rhythm as he watched for some twitch or tell to clue him on what her first move would be. This time, he would not be the first to give in.

They stood still as statues for a long moment, just staring at each other, deadlocked.

Temari's hips twitched, telegraphing her first move. Itachi reacted instantly, the right end of his staff lashing out to meet her blow before it even came close to connecting. She hopped back, swinging it around for another attempt while simultaneously putting her body out of reach. Grasping the staff with both hands, he stopped her blow, but found himself shaken by the force of it. Shockwaves rippled through the staff and up his arms into his shoulders and jaws, leaving little zings of pain in their wake.

_She _is_ good._ Itachi spared only half a breath to admire her strength before leaping straight into the air, grinning when Temari's attempted leg sweep cut through empty air. While she tried to recover, still off-balance from the momentum, he landed on the balls of his feet and pivoted rapidly to the right, arcing his staff around in an attempt to catch her midriff.

As if sensing his intention, Temari threw herself into a backflip, Itachi's staff coming within a finger's width of catching her in the stomach. As her legs came up, she aimed a kick at his wrist, but he jerked out of her way at the last nanosecond. Landing softly on the balls of her own feet, Temari spun on her base foot, gathering momentum as she swung her staff around at his head. All hints of challenge and taunting were gone from her face, leaving nothing but focused determination in its wake.

Itachi met her blow with the left end of his own staff, absorbing the force while simultaneously knocking her rod aside. Temari used the impact to propel her around again, spinning on the ball of her foot as she nearly folded in half to avoid the other end of his staff coming around in an attempted strike at her head.

They'd found their rhythm now. Darting around each other, they jumped and spun and twirled through the air, each blow barely being blocked before connecting. Their breaths started to come in rapid, staccato bursts, sweat forming matching trails down their faces.

A loose strand of his hair slapped Itachi across the face. He blinked, ignoring the way it stuck to his cheekbone as he swept his staff toward Temari's head again. She ducked sideways, but a loose lock of her hair flipped upwards as Itachi's bō staff knocked against it - _close, so close_.

As the match continued, neither of them willing to give even an inch of advantage to the other, they began to tire. Itachi started to wish he'd worn a lighter shirt since the one he'd put on clung uncomfortably to his skin, chafing with each move he made. He'd never been pushed so _hard_ during a match before, though he'd certainly fought skilled opponents back in Konoha. He'd expected Temari to be excellent. But he hadn't expected her to be able to match him blow for blow, to anticipate his next move almost before he thought of it himself. And though she was tiring as well, her tells were still so subtle he had to watch very closely to anticipate her next move...

_She is, without a doubt, the most skilled ninja I have fought in my life._ Itachi jumped away from her next blow, sliding his hands into a wider hold on his staff as he moved to retaliate. _But it's time to end this!_ He feinted toward the left, watching with grim satisfaction as she reacted to his action just the way he hoped she would. With a loud yell, Itachi drove his staff towards her, ramming it straight into hers with a bone-jarring impact. But what he _hadn't_ expected was her to meet him halfway, her fingers closing over both their staffs at the exact same moment his did, on either side of hers.

They stood nose to nose, breathing in raspy gasps, staring hard into each other's eyes as the truth sank in: they were as much in a deadlock as they'd been when they began.

Itachi's eyes dropped to her lips when she bared her teeth at him, a gutteral snarl rumbling in her throat. Her eyes snapped sparks he could almost feel against his skin, and her hot breath washed across his face, smelling strongly of strawberries.

Her hatred pulsed like a living thing between them, dark and ugly and so very _strong_.

Releasing the staffs as if he'd been burned, Itachi stumbled back a step, shocked by her reaction. He knew she strongly disliked him, and disapproved of his presence in Suna and her home. But he hadn't realized she _hated_ him so forcefully. Drawing in a ragged breath, he tilted his head slightly in a kind of bow.

Temari's expression changed instantly. Her hatred vanished behind a smooth veneer of bland disinterest, though her eyes still held a simmering flame. Taking a staff in either hand, she dropped them to the floor, forming a kind of barrier between them. "A tie?" she panted, tone deceptively calm.

Itachi hesitated for just a moment, stubborn male pride warring with his more gentlemanly side. At last, he tilted his head slightly and agreed, "A tie, Lady Temari."

She spun away, but not before he saw something flicker across her features. "I shall report the results to Gaara," she said, picking up their bō staffs so she could carefully return them to their proper places. "He shall undoubtedly talk to you later about where he plans to go from there."

He wondered idly how Temari planned to present the details of their battle to her brother. He had no doubt she'd tell the truth - for all her dislike of him, he'd seen just a hint of respect on her face right before she turned away. "Very well. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Shoving her damp bangs off her forehead, Temari shot him an unreadable glance as she slid into her shoes, which rested next to his by the door. "You fight well." She was gone before he even processed the words.

Planting his hands on his hips, Itachi stared at the empty doorway and shook his head. "You too," he murmured. _I'll not be underestimating you again. You can count on that._

* * *

Temari stared at the red lines on her palms, which had taken the brunt of the impact of her and Itachi's staffs. _Well,_ she thought, bemused, _he's _not_ a lemon._

Closing the door separating the business and home portions of the Tower behind her, she leaned against it. Allowing her eyes to slide shut, she leaned her head back and let out her breath on a long, shaky sigh. Gaara had warned her Itachi was considered one of Konoha's best ninja, but part of her had scoffed at the idea. She'd been wary when he came in, though, just in case he was better than she thought.

He had been - even more than she'd thought possible.

She replayed bits and pieces of the fight in her mind, each move as clear as it had been when it first happened. He hadn't pulled his punches with her, treating her as an equal worthy of a true fight. That irked her in a way she still couldn't pin down, which only ticked her off further.

The past four years, she'd adhered to a strict training regimen she'd worked out mostly herself, with some input from Gaara and Baki, the head of Suna's war council. She worked tirelessly, even when her muscles screamed for relief, even when she bled, even when she felt so tired she thought she'd drop dead of exhaustion before she improved that little bit more.

And still, today, it had proved to be barely enough. She'd been fighting to _beat_ Itachi, but all she'd managed to do was tie him. She had underestimated his ability and _over_estimated her own, and that drove her almost as crazy as the nightmares.

Lifting her right hand, Temari studied the angry red mark on her palm before closing her fingers into a fist over it. She allowed her nails to bite into her skin, welcoming the pain. She would have to tweak her regimen somehow. Perhaps lately she'd fallen too much into routine, just kind of cruising along without really challenging herself.

_Maybe I can talk Gaara into sparring with me a bit. That should give me some of the push I need._ Even as the thought entered her mind, she knew it wouldn't happen. Gaara didn't spar with anyone, only the shadows in his own mind. He never told her the reason, but she could guess easily enough. He'd hurt too many people in his lifetime, and he had no desire to do anything which might even _remotely_ harm another. He'd not be agreeing to spar with her, at least not any time soon, though she knew he'd come with her and help demonstrate and talk her through some new techniques.

Pushing off the door, Temari turned her steps towards her brother's office. He was expecting her report, and she wanted to talk to him, anyway. The sooner the better.

She only hoped Gaara would be satisfied enough with her efforts that he _wouldn't_ send her out on any missions with Itachi. _Not likely_.

...But a girl could hope.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ An early update! I posted this chapter early one, because I was _really_ excited about it (especially the second scene!), and two, to let you all know I'm going to be posting a **oneshot** sequel to _Shadows_, entitled _Dawn_, on Mother's Day (this Sunday)! So for all of you who wanted a sequel, I'm very happy to report there will be one (and I'm really excited about it)! But in the meantime, thank you for reading _Light and Dark_, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you again for the next one (and for _Dawn_)!


	5. Mission

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _rao hyuga 18_, _McKazekage_, _Guest_, and _greetingsfrommaars_ for all your wonderful, encouraging reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and alert lists - you all encourage me so much, too!

**Author's Note:** Sorry there was not a chapter earlier in the week, as per my usual update schedule, but my grandmother is in poor health, and since this week has been a little rocky on that front I just haven't had the time or energy to update before now. Thank you so much for your patience, and I hope this chapter was worth the wait and you enjoy it!

* * *

***~Chapter IV~***

_~Mission~_

* * *

Temari had never believed in luck: Thank goodness, or she'd blame her current situation on a particularly nasty string of _bad_ (rotten, awful, _horrendous_) luck. It had been a month since their explosive sparring match, a miserable marching onward of interminable days which left a sour taste in Temari's mouth and a constant headache throbbing behind her eyes. As she'd expected, Gaara sent her out with Itachi on every single one of the Uchiha's assigned missions, claiming they worked well together.

Well, sure, they got the job done. They both had nearly impeccable mission success stats. They both fought with equal, nearly unparalleled skill. But they couldn't _agree_ on anything! Had her little brother completely lost his mind?

Things started off simply with a couple of escort missions, just quick two or three day jobs. Then they'd been sent to the Land of Grass to nab a rogue ninja. After that came the trip to Tea Country, where they met with the _daimyo_ and then spent three straight days trying to wash the scent of a thousand teas from their skin and clothes, even though every meal introduced yet another of the bounty they'd been sent back with.

Now Temari found herself in the middle of the Land of Waves, in the dead of winter, on her and Itachi's most dangerous mission yet. The encoded instructions Gaara had sent with her nearly burned a hole through her pocket into her skin, leaving her feeling jumpy.

This was too much like another mission she'd been on, one that went horribly, horribly wrong.

Miserable, she tucked herself a little deeper into the tangle of dead foliage shielding her from casual passersby, trying to blow as much warm air into her freezing palms as she could - _quietly_. Itachi had been gone for an hour already, and though they'd both agreed it would take a while to scout out their target, she hadn't thought it would take _this_ long.

_I knew it. I should have gone. Why did I let him talk me into staying here?_ She checked to make sure no one was within earshot before shifting position, wincing as circulation returned to her numb left foot. _I'm from the desert! I don't handle cold or wet well. At all. Remember?_ Though Temari's hiding place hid her well from curious eyes, it did absolutely nothing to shield her from the icy raindrops weeping from above. She hated many things, but she despised only a few more than the cold and the wet.

Right as her nose started to drip for the hundredth time (literally - she'd been counting), Itachi appeared around the curve in the road. He whistled softly, low-high-low, and turned his gaze in her direction as she stumbled out of her hiding place.

"Took you long enough," she groused. Tucking her hands under her arms in attempt to warm them, she studied his remote expression. "Well?"

"I think they're expecting us. They've got guards patrolling the wall, and once I got past those, I saw even more posted around the mansion. The place is a fortress, though one which is, thankfully, not impenetrable." Most unfairly Itachi seemed unaffected by the cold except for some red lining his cheekbones and highlighting the tip of his nose.

The sound of voices from around the curve jerked Temari's attention in that direction. She quickly turned to step to the side of the road, out of the way of the oncoming traffic. But before she could, Itachi snatched up her hand, drawing it through the crook of his arm. He settled his free hand over hers, the warmth of his palm engulfing her own icy fingers.

"We belong here," he murmured. Affixing an easy smile on his (cursedly handsome) features, Itachi drew her forward, keeping his head turned toward her even as he watched the curve of the road out of the corners of his sharp dark eyes.

_No, we don't belong here,_ Temari thought bitterly. _Especially _me_._ But she didn't voice the words, instead forcing a light smile onto her own face as she unwillingly followed his lead.

A group of people around their own age, perhaps a year or two younger, appeared around the corner. Caught up in their own conversation and laughter, they ignored the couple keeping to the opposite side of the road as they stumbled on, singing in horribly off-key, drunken tones.

Temari relaxed when their voices finally faded into the distance. Assured no stragglers were coming, she yanked her arm from Itachi's loose grip, tucking her hands once again under her arms. "It's almost dark," she observed. Her breath fogged in front of her lips as the temperature dropped a few more degrees. And she thought it'd been cold before!

"Hn. Seems they got started - and finished up - a little early." Itachi shook out his arms and flexed his fingers a few times, his expression no longer one of a smitten lover but a focused ninja. With full darkness encroaching, everyone had returned to their homes and settled in for the night in front of cheery fires, warm cups of tea, and steaming bowls of soup.

She'd give her left arm and a leg for the same, even if only for a few minutes. But it was not to be - at least not until much later. First they had to complete their mission - and then get away unnoticed.

They slipped through the already-darkened streets, keeping to the shadows whenever possible. Like wraiths in the night, they passed by without sound or notice. Temari kept her gaze on the back of Itachi's head, knowing he moved with the confidence of one familiar with his way. After all, he'd been the one to scout out the mansion earlier, scoping out this same route. As night embraced sky, the pair arrived at the top of the tallest hill overlooking the tiny seaside village. A massive stone wall hid the mansion from view, but Temari could almost feel it there.

"Time to do this?" She breathed the words through her half-frozen lips, hoping the cold wouldn't hinder her movements. They would need to move fast once they committed themselves to their plan of action.

"Hn." Itachi motioned for her to follow, leading her in a wide circle around the wall to the point where he'd slipped in earlier. Crouching at the base of the wall, he silently counted down with his fingers, then formed a stirrup for Temari to place her foot into so he could hoist her up. When she straddled the wall, she held on with the strength of her legs and reached down to give Itachi a hand up. Neither of them wanted to use any equipment which could leave marks on the wall - ones which could be traced later, if anything went wrong.

Once on the ground again, this time on the inside of the wall, they made their way across the brown lawn in a crouch, hurrying toward the house. The floodlights set high on the walls of the mansion spilled cold white light across the ground, but there were enough statues and dormant shrubs to provide shadows in which they could hide.

They encountered the first guard when they reached the wraparound porch. Temari pulled a senbon from the pouch at her waist, carefully took aim, then gave it a toss. The thin projectile entered the man's rather scrawny neck, neatly nicking his jugular. He only uttered a single muffled groan before dropping.

"Meet you back at the wall in five minutes," Itachi whispered close to her ear. Temari shivered, even though his warm breath had thawed some of the chill encasing her skin, if only briefly.

She nodded, waiting until he'd slipped under the porch before she headed for the nearest tree. Keeping an eye and ear open for any trouble, she nimbly scurried up the trunk, briefly testing each branch before fully resting her weight upon it. The last thing she needed was to tumble out of the thing, break her neck, and sound off an alarm.

The top branches lined up perfectly with the roof, and it was no problem for Temari to step from one to the other. Staying low so her profile wouldn't show against the clear night sky, lit brightly by the moon and stars, she made her way swiftly along, planting explosives as she went. Under her breath, she continued counting down from three-hundred, hurrying but at the same time very precise in her movements.

When she reached her starting point again, Temari peered over the roof-

-Jerked her head back, biting back a curse when she realized a guard stood right beneath her. He leaned casually against the tree, the glowing butt of his cigarette the only thing giving away his presence-

-Spang in the middle of her escape route.

_Don't panic._ Closing her eyes, Temari drew in a deep breath, ignoring the stink of smoke as she inhaled. _One-hundred-seventy-four..._

Itachi was probably already on his way back toward the wall. If he got there and didn't find her there, would he think her simply slow in setting her charges and wait a few extra seconds? Or would he assume she'd run into deeper trouble and backtrack toward the mansion looking for her? But as soon as he cleared the porch, he would have activated his own charges. Hers weren't activated yet, since she hadn't come off the roof. If the ones below blew while she was stuck in place...

She shivered, her chill having nothing to do with the nip in the air. _Think, Temari. You've wiggled out of tight spots before._

Sliding an eye over the edge again, Temari peered down at the guard. His cigarette winked at her again through the branches - every single one of them barriers between her and him. Impossible to jump down off the roof and onto him, plus he would undoubtedly hear her if she tried to climb down. There were no other trees close enough to the house for her to utilize for her exit strategy, either. As long as the guard held his position, Temari was trapped on the roof.

_One-hundred-fifteen._ She could make her way farther along the roof, then get him with a well-aimed senbon or kunai. But he stood in the shadows, the closest circle of light from the wall resting several dozen footsteps away. She couldn't guarantee a solid hit even if she tried. She also couldn't afford to sit still and wait for him to move, either. She needed to make a decision (_one-hundred-one_), and get off the roof - _fast_.

A muffled cough from below brought her eye over the edge of the roof again. The red tip of the cigarette moved forward slightly, away from the trunk. She heard the crunch of dead leaves as the smoker took two - three - four steps forward.

Just far enough to clear him from the branches' cover.

_Ninety_. Grinning savagely, Temari withdrew a kunai from the holster strapped to her leg, crouched on the edge of the roof, took a deep breath, then jumped.

Her aim had been slightly off, she realized as her hand just brushed his shoulder on the way down, but it didn't deter her. Before he could fully recover from his surprise - which, thankfully, made him gasp in a throat-full of smoke and kept him from shouting an alarm - Temari came smoothly out of her shoulder roll onto her feet and easily struck him across the throat with her kunai.

He dropped soundlessly, eyes wide with shock. Temari stepped forward and crushed out his cigarette with the toe of her boot, snurling her nose at the acrid smell of the smoke curling off it. _Don't you know those things will kill you?_

Returning the kunai to her holster, Temari pulled out her detonator and adjusted the time on it. _Seventy-three._ Stuffing it into her pocket, she raced back across the lawn, darting from shadow to shadow, knowing she needed to get over the wall before the first charge went off. She was cutting it terribly close, but as long as she didn't run into any more trouble, she knew she would make it.

_Fifty-four_. She was almost to the wall. A quick glance upwards showed an empty top, but she knew it wouldn't be for too much longer.

A shout from behind her, in the direction of the house, sounded the alarm she'd hoped wouldn't be raised. Someone must have found one of the guards she'd killed - or, perhaps, one Itachi had had to eliminate?

_Thirty-one._ She took comfort in the fact they wouldn't have time to disarm the charges, even if they were found. Hopefully the guards would think the intruders had made their way into the house, looking to steal instead of destroy, and wouldn't even _find_ the explosives.

She reached the wall, letting out her breath as she flattened her back against it. A quick glance to her left, then her right, showed she was alone. Was she the first one back after all? A prickle of unease shot along the base of her neck. _Itachi?_ Had the shout been to summon help to subdue him? Was he even now being taken into the very house which would blow in fewer than twenty seconds?

Temari's hand went instinctively to her pocket. She knew she was still close enough to stop the timers on the charges on the roof with a press of a button. But that would do no good if Itachi had been able to set his before being captured...

Tilting her head, she shot a quick glance to the top of the wall. She could scale it and leave, save herself. There was time. But could she _really_ leave Itachi - as much as she disliked him - to die?

Cold sweat broke out along her hairline and under her clothes. Her breath started coming in sharp, shallow pants, and she fought back the wave of panic threatening to engulf her. _Stay calm._

_Eleven seconds._

The hair on the back of her arms and neck stood straight out, prickling in warning-

_Nine seconds._

She lashed out instinctively, breath catching in her throat when Itachi caught her shaking fist with the palm of his hand. He shook his head once, sharply, in warning, then cupped his hands in front of him.

Relief flushed through her, and she barely managed to get her foot in the stirrup of Itachi's hands so he could toss her atop the wall. She reached down - _four seconds _- caught his hand, pulled him up alongside her, and then they both dropped over the other side.

The explosion lit up the night sky, sending streamers of bright orange, red, and yellow flames arcing into the air as the sound rolled over the wall, down the hill, and through the village below. Sparks danced freely through the air as Itachi and Temari, ears ringing, hurried down the hill to freedom, hearing the sounds of a futile attempt to save the Land of Waves's biggest crime syndicate's headquarters behind them.

Somehow, they had pulled off their hardest, most dangerous mission yet.

* * *

Itachi drew in a deep breath - scented strongly by hot tea and spicy jasmine - and took a moment to relish simply being alive. Picking up one of the two cups of steaming tea he'd just poured, he moved across the room to kneel next to Temari's shivering, blanket-wrapped form sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace.

"Drink," he ordered softly. "It'll help warm you up."

She turned away from the fire, blinking away the thoughtful haze clouding her blue-green eyes as she worked her left hand free of the blanket to reach for it. "Oh. Thanks."

Immediately noting something was wrong, Itachi withdrew the cup from her reach. "You're injured," he said sharply. He felt like an idiot for not noticing before.

Temari stared at her left hand, then quickly withdrew it. "No," she said defensively, but the pink flush staining her sharp cheekbones belied her.

Setting down the cup next to his leg, Itachi paused with his hand hovering over the blanket. "Your shoulder?" It wasn't hard to put the clues together and make the educated guess.

Silently, Temari let the blanket slide down her shoulder as she reached up her left hand, secured the neck of her loose purple top, and tugged it down. She winced as the air hit her bare skin, already turning colors from the developing bruise. "I dropped down off the roof, missed my target, and had to go into a shoulder roll." Tugging her top and blanket back into place, she expectantly held out her left hand. "It'll be fine in a few days. Nothing broken, so there's nothing to freak out about. Now, I'd like my tea, please."

Reluctantly, he handed over her teacup. As she sipped, he stood and went to get his own, still seeing the colors of her developing bruise hanging before his eyes. Though he, too, had run into some trouble making his way back across the lawn, he'd managed to escape unscathed. It hadn't occurred to him to think Temari hadn't, especially since she'd beaten him back to the wall.

Leaving her alone next to the fire, Itachi settled down next to the window. They successfully escaped the Land of Waves via boat, then arrived at the inn where they'd prearranged to spend the night. Pretending they were nothing more or less than a traveling couple, they had settled into their room and ordered food to be brought to them. They had yet to get any sleep, still halfway caught in the adrenaline high caused by their successful mission, but after finishing his tea, Itachi knew he wanted nothing more than to curl up on his futon and sleep until time to leave the next day.

He slid a glance in Temari's direction out of the corner of his eye, just in time to see her shiver again. Though she'd not voiced a complaint, he knew she'd hated every moment of their mission because it had been cold and wet the entire time. Itachi had volunteered to scout out the mansion in hopes she'd find a halfway warm, dry place to hunker down until he returned, but she'd been almost as wet as he when he'd found her again.

Swallowing the last of his tea, now tepid, Itachi returned his cup to the tray before pulling the band out of his ponytail and curling up under the warm blankets on his futon. "Good night, Lady Temari," he said softly.

Though she didn't turn around, he heard her whisper back, "Good morning, actually."

Itachi closed his scratchy eyes even as he chuckled tiredly. "So it is. Good morning."

He was nearly asleep by the time he heard Temari set her cup down on the tray, then slide into the comfort of her futon, less than an arm's length away from his own. She let out a long sigh, and Itachi fought the urge to roll his head the slight degree needed to look in her direction, continuing to feign sleep. She'd made it more than clear she didn't welcome his offers to help her, though he wished he had thought to offer her some pain medicine from their emergency med kit.

Something told him, though, she wouldn't have accepted it even if he had. She'd been lost in some sort of fog since they returned to the inn, a distant expression on her face while they ate. He wanted to ask her about her obvious melancholia, but hadn't dared. She didn't pry into any of his moods - and yes, occasionally he did fall into them if something reminded him of Konoha or his younger brother - so the least he could do was respect hers.

But the same compulsion which had sent Itachi diving into the water to save Temari back in Konoha a decade ago led him to want to try to snap her out of her fog now. Even if he already knew how she'd react: the exact same way she had then, with anger and hatred.

_That's your problem,_ he thought to himself as he rolled onto his side, his back to Temari and her soft, even breaths. _It's what makes you a bad ninja, no matter your success rate. You _care_ too much._

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to lock out the little voice at the back of his mind, which sounded disturbingly like his father's. Though Uchiha Fugaku was long dead, Itachi still couldn't escape the long-reaching shadow of his negative opinion of his elder son.

Curling his hand into a fist around the edge of his blankets, Itachi forced himself to swallow back the choking fear he never would.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ I'm sorry I didn't update earlier in the week, as per my usual schedule, but my grandmother is in poor health and things have been a bit rocky this week. I've spent much of the past few days either without the time, the energy, or both to update. I'm _hoping_ to update again sometime in the coming week, and then get back to my normal once-weekly update schedule after that. In the meantime, thank you for your patience, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you all again for the next update!


	6. Gravity

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _greetingsfrommaars_, _McKazekage_, _rao hyuga 18_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _Clovergirl100_, and _Guest_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to all of you who have added, and continue to add, this story to their favorites and follows!

**Author's Note:** This has been a busier week than I anticipated, so I'm sorry for another slightly late update. This chapter's title was inspired by the Vienna Teng song _Gravity_, which I listened to on repeat while writing the first half of this chapter. This is one of my favorite chapters to write so far, so I really hope it was worth the wait! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

***~Chapter V~***

_~Gravity~_

* * *

Temari ignored the pain in her shoulder, setting her jaw as she hooked her knees over the next rope on the course and let go of the one she'd been holding. For a moment she dangled there, upside down, allowing the blood to rush to her head as she surveyed the inverted room. The windows were still dark, even though she'd come in over two hours ago, after she'd woken from yet another nightmare. She knew from bitter experience there'd be no getting back to sleep. What better way to distract herself than to train, especially since she'd been planning to step up her routine anyway?

Drawing in a deep breath, Temari swung herself up and grasped the rope she'd released earlier, tightening her fingers around it as she eased her weight from her knees to her hands. Ignoring the burn of the rope against her skin - her chalk had worn off a long time ago, and she hadn't wanted to stop to get more - she swung herself around twice, thrice.

For a moment after she let go, she hung in the air, as if suspended mid-flight. The moment of weightlessness briefly captured her imagination, lifting her to the heights of freedom for which she'd been longing. For just a single moment in time, she defied gravity, fought back her nightmares and memories and failures and _soared_.

But then her fingers curled around the next rope, and gravity's inexorable pull dragged her body down again. Fresh pain, sharp and nearly impossible to ignore, blazed through her shoulder, wringing a gasp from her throat. She faltered, instinctively drawing her right arm against her chest. Her left hand slipped, and she crashed to the mat beneath the ropes, landing hard on her already bruised hip. This time she cried out involuntarily, tears stinging her eyes as she lay still for a moment, humiliated by yet another failure: By her graceless tumble from glory, from freedom.

Clenching her eyes shut against the tears, she listened to her raspy breaths jerking in and out of her lungs, fighting the urge to give in to the pain and let it rule her, at least for a while. The effort to fight it off and keep going just felt like too much.

She and Itachi had been back from their mission for a grand total of two days. And while they had been two days of freedom from Itachi, since they'd been granted two (wonderful, amazing, _glorious_) weeks off from missions - barring any emergencies, of course - Temari didn't feel like she'd accomplished even half of what she'd intended. Lady Chiyo had looked at her shoulder and hip, clucking over the bruises as she advised Temari to take it easy for a week, or at least until the bruising started to fade and her pain eased off. But Temari ignored her, knowing she couldn't afford to lose any of her conditioning, particularly since she intended to keep building it up.

Her most recent mission had _proved_ she hadn't really improved. She needed this extra training more than ever. Needed to make herself stronger, so she wouldn't repeat her past mistakes.

And, after all, injuries were all part of being a ninja. It was in the job description. Another, unwritten, rule stated it was a ninja's duty to ignore the pain, keep pushing on, improve themselves in every way they could. Anything less was nothing short of complete _disgrace_. If Temari failed, it reflected poorly on her brothers and her village. Even though Gaara was the head of the village now, and Kankuro was technically an adult, they both still looked to her as their surrogate mother and guardian; their teacher; the person they always came to when they had a particularly difficult problem. It was her _job_ to be strong, not just for the village, but for her family.

Gritting her teeth, Temari pushed herself to her feet. Turning, she hobbled back to the beginning of the rope course, ignoring the shrieking pain of numerous points in her body as she climbed up and grasped the first rope. She would start all the way back at the beginning, and she would _not_ quit until she made it all the way through. _Without_ falling, or slipping up.

Closing her mind to everything but the ropes, Temari started working her way back across the course, swinging and dangling and occasionally leaping, her gaze focused on the final rope. As it grew closer with each move, she felt her confidence slowly creeping back. She was going to make it!

And then the fingers of her right hand abruptly refused to close into a fist. Her left hand, again unexpectedly forced to bear her full weight on top of its shaky fatigue, slipped.

Again, she fell.

Temari clamped her eyes shut, trying to twist herself in midair so she would hopefully land on her uninjured hip. She tried to go limp, knowing the impact would hurt less that way-

-Something impacted her from the side, clamping around her and cushioning her fall as she and it landed on the mat. Her pad let out a soft "oomph!" upon impact, blowing warm breath across her neck and cheek.

She drew in a sharp breath. _Gaara? Kankuro?_ Jerking her head around, she met the concerned dark eyes of her rescuer.

_Itachi_. Letting out a growl, Temari shoved herself away from the Uchiha interloper, ripping herself from his arms so she could roll to her feet. Ignoring her right arm, which dangled at her side - unresponsive to her attempts to get it to move so she could cradle it against her - and made her shoulder hurt even worse, she glared down at him. "What are you doing?" she snapped.

Sitting up, Itachi regarded her with a solemn expression, though his eyes still reflected concern. "I didn't want you to hit the floor," he said mildly. He motioned vaguely to his shoulder, then her own. "I saw the bruise, remember? It certainly wouldn't do it any good to land so hard on it again."

And, since she'd been aiming for her uninjured hip to hit the floor, her injured shoulder _would_ have impacted the mat. Seething, Temari curled her left hand into a fist. "I'm _fine_," she stressed. _Don't let him see your weakness. He's an outsider, an enemy - he can't be trusted._

His expression didn't change. "I'm not implying otherwise. I'm simply pointing out the fact further trauma to your shoulder could aggravate the damage it's already taken, thus increasing your recovery time." Itachi's dark gaze drifted to the ropes above his head, expression turning thoughtful. "One might also point out swinging and dangling from ropes _could_ be considered additional trauma in and of themselves."

He was right, curse him, and she knew it. Forcing herself to pretend she wasn't in pain, Temari stalked past him and across the floor to where she'd left a towel and container of water next to her shoes by the door. Lifting the bottle, she flicked off the cap with her left thumb and put it to her lips, tipping her head back as she gulped down the now-tepid liquid. It had been cold when she first came to the gym.

How long _had_ she been here? She shot a glance toward the window across the room, surprised to see dawn's orangey glow filtering through. _That long, huh?_

Well ... perhaps she _had_ been overdoing it. Just a little.

Temari felt more than heard Itachi come up behind her, though he stopped well outside her personal space. "Why are you pushing yourself so hard?" he asked softly. "Whatever your reason, surely it's not worth risking your health over."

A memory ripped through her mind - _darkness clouding her vision, screams (her own?) tearing at her ears, water filling her nose, her mouth, her lungs, choking her_ - and her fingers tightened reflexively around her bottle. "It's none of your business," she said coldly. _It really isn't. Never has been, never will be._

"Perhaps not." Itachi stepped around her, his hands in his pockets, posture casual, though the intensity in his dark eyes pierced the darkest parts of her as he nailed her with his gaze. "But I can promise further injuring - perhaps even permanently damaging or even killing - yourself won't do you or anyone else a lick of good." He glanced away, but not before she saw his expression soften, just a hint. "Take care of yourself, and then worry about everything else, all right?" He vanished through the door even as the last few words left his lips.

Temari stared at the empty doorway, shaken to her core by his words. Had Gaara or Kankuro told him-?

_No, they couldn't have._ Not even they knew the extent of it, only what she'd told them. Only she knew every painful, hated, knifing truth - of the darkness always clawing at her mind, of her nightmares, of her fear. They believed she had entirely different reasons for her training, and she let them continue to think so.

No one could know, could even guess. It was her secret, deep and dark and ugly, and she would carry it to her grave if need be.

And yet she couldn't fight off the unsettling feeling Uchiha Itachi wouldn't be satisfied until he'd wrung every single detail out of her no matter what it took.

Recapping her drink with a shaking hand, she turned her gaze back to the rope course and made yet another promise to herself she wasn't sure she could keep: _No matter what it takes, I'll stay strong. I'll outthink him, outwit him._

_He will _never_ know my secrets._

* * *

Itachi leaned back, head propped against the wall, eyes closed, listening intently for Temari to pass by the room in which he'd chosen to conceal himself. He knew better than to push her - even though he had a feeling he'd done so with his earlier comments - but if she didn't leave the gym soon, he'd go back and try to talk her into breakfast.

Either that, or he'd yield to his urge to toss her over his shoulder and carry her to the hospital to make _sure_ the stubborn woman got the rest she needed. What good did she think she was doing anyone, pushing herself like that? He'd known some stubborn people in his time, but surely Sabaku Temari took the grand prize by a landslide.

The soft slap of bare feet against the stone floor caught his attention, and Itachi held his breath until Temari passed the room and then turned the corner a few doors down. Sighing, he pushed to his feet and left the room, entering the newly vacated gym. He wanted to do some training of his own, but when he'd found Temari there, he knew he'd have to wait until she left.

She looked, to be honest, awful, Itachi mused as he began warming up. With dark bruise-like shadows under her eyes, appearing even darker under her paler-than-usual complexion, the only lick of color on her skin had been the bruise bared by the strap of her sleeveless workout top. It looked so dark and angry and ugly, Itachi had nearly considered dragging her straight to the hospital right then. He would have, if he thought it would do any good.

He knew for a fact Temari had already been to see a Healer, and he had a strong feeling she now trained against orders. Nothing he said or did would change her mind, though he'd had to try. But he did wonder about it. In Konoha, a medic's word was law, protecting the valuable resource ninja were. He'd expected it to be the same in Suna. But then again, maybe it was - for any ninja other than one who bore the name of Sabaku.

Muscles now humming with energy and the desire to get going, Itachi started out lifting weights, then did a few _kata_ before moving on to the ropes. Burying his hands in the barrel of chalk sitting in the corner, he thoroughly covered his hands before moving to the beginning of the course.

It didn't take him long to swing across the ropes once, hand-over-handing it until he reached the other side. He dropped to the mat, landing on the balls of his feet, ready to go again.

Except...

Confused, he glanced down at his hands, which felt sticky all of a sudden. Streaks of red pinkened what chalk remained on his fingers and palms, and his breath caught when he realized his hands were smeared with blood.

A few quick wipes with his towel proved it was not his. Itachi looked back up at the rope course, mouth settling into a grim line. He felt torn between the desire to shake some sense into Temari and equally strongly to beg her to stop before she really hurt herself, though apparently he'd be a little late on that one.

_What were you thinking?_ Had she not used any chalk at all? Itachi slapped his thigh with the towel, frustrated. She must have been working on the ropes for a really long time for her rope burns to progress to broken skin. Did she even realize her hands were bleeding when she left the gym? Well, even if she hadn't, she would have noticed it by now. Pity it had taken such a thing, but he hoped the incident would teach her a much-needed lesson.

"_Cursed_ stubborn woman," he muttered. Yes, she _definitely_ took the grand prize.

"Speaking of Temari?"

Itachi glanced over his shoulder, surprised to see Gaara standing in the doorway. The man moved like a cat and as silently as a ghost. Allowing a wry grin to turn up the corners of his mouth, he replied, "To be honest, yes." He sketched a quick bow.

Fully entering the room, Gaara caught sight of the bloody towel still in Itachi's grip, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Been working a little too hard?"

He felt his expression tighten. "Blood's not mine."

Gaara's expression darkened as he looked toward the ropes. From the look on his face, this wasn't the first time Temari had pulled something like this, which made Itachi think, sadly, it also wouldn't be the last. "It's been a long time since she got up so early and worked so hard on the ropes," he murmured, confirming Itachi's hunch.

"If I may ask, why does she do it?" Itachi didn't mean to pry. But, if he was to continue working with Temari as his partner on missions, he felt he needed to know what motivated her so he could understand her better.

The other man stayed quiet for so long, Itachi began to think he wasn't going to respond. He'd just opened his mouth to retract the question when Gaara finally answered. "Punishment, perhaps." The redhead calmly crossed the room and ran his hand across the lowest rope, his expression speculative.

"Punishment?" Itachi repeated incredulously, surprised.

"_Hai_. For some perceived failure." Gaara's expression darkened further. "There is little my sister tolerates _less_ than failing. She strives to be perfect, and she sees training not just as a way to improve her strength and abilities. If she trains long and hard enough - until she bleeds, until she cries - she feels she's done something to right the wrong."

Itachi's fingers went slack, and his bloody towel dropped to the floor. "She does this - often?"

"No." Letting go of the rope, Gaara moved to pick up a bō staff, placing it behind his shoulders before draping his arms over it. "Not as much as she used to."

The words sent a chill down Itachi's spine. "Is there nothing to be done to talk her out of-" He stopped, wondering if the words he'd intended to say next would, in Gaara's eyes, be an insult to Temari.

"Her foolishness?" Gaara finished knowingly.

_Apparently not._ Itachi nodded his silent agreement.

"Kankuro and I have both tried repeatedly. And, I suspect, you just tried yourself a few minutes ago." Gaara sighed, shifting so he could spin the staff a few times in the air in front of him. "As of yet, I doubt any of us have found the right words to do so, but I ask you to keep trying."

It wasn't hard to agree, since Itachi had been planning to do so anyway. After a few beats of silence, he ventured a question which had been weighing on his mind for a while. "Milord? If I may ask - why do you continue assigning Temari to go on missions with me, even though she does not like me?"

Gaara planted the end of his staff against the floor, meeting Itachi's gaze squarely. His expression gave away nothing, leading the other man to wonder if he'd overstepped some unspoken boundary. It hadn't really been his place, after all, to question his superior...

"Because," Gaara said suddenly, interrupting Itachi's mental scolding, "you and my sister have more in common than either of you think."

Itachi blinked, surprised by the answer. "I - see," he said slowly, even though he really didn't.

Lips twitching, as if wanting to curl into a smile, Gaara tilted his head slightly. "Do you?"

"No." He had a feeling the other man wasn't going to explain, however.

He was right. "Since we're asking questions, I have one for you." Gaara's eyes slid briefly away, and he idly ran his hand up and down his staff, as if - nervous? _Surely not._ "Are you familiar with Hyuuga Hinata, from Konoha?"

The name rang instantly as familiar in Itachi's mind, though it took a few moments for him to dig up an accompanying image. During his years of house arrest on Lady Tsunade's estate, he'd occasionally gone downstairs when she was holding a gala, though he always remained out of sight of the guests. He remembered Hinata as the heiress of the Hyuuga clan - the Uchiha's only real rival in Suna, both in size and ninja ability - a few years younger than him, with long midnight hair and the distinctive pale eyes of her clan. "I've never actually met her," he answered at length. "But yes, I know of her."

Gaara's eyes brightened slightly. "Did you see her before you left the village? Is she well?"

"It's been several months, but the last time I saw her, yes, she looked well." Itachi wondered what interest Suna's leader could possibly have in the girl. Then he remembered back to his one interaction with the boy during the Sabaku's visit to Konoha, and how Gaara had introduced Hinata as his friend. Even though it had been several years, he must still feel friendly toward her, though apparently the two had not kept in touch.

"Good." Gaara seemed to relax slightly, and he went back to twirling his bō staff, focusing almost all of his attention on the piece of wood.

Itachi hesitated, feeling intrusive just standing there doing nothing. Cutting his glance to the side, he reached for a staff of his own as he asked, "Would you like a sparring partner, milord?"

"No." The word ripped through the air like a bolt of lightning, startling Itachi with its electric intensity.

Snatching his hand back, Itachi instantly bowed. "Apologies, milord." Feeling suddenly awkward, he reached for his things, wanting to leave the gym before he could embarrass himself any further.

Gaara spoke again right before Itachi stepped through the door. "I do not spar with anyone. It was not meant as an affront to you, or an insult to your abilities."

He nodded once. "I see. Thank you, milord. Good morning." He slipped away before the other man could say more.

Once he was around the corner, Itachi paused, thinking back to pieces of the conversation he'd just had. So this wasn't a one-time incident - Temari had a formed a pattern, training herself into the ground after she did something she thought to be a "failure." But what could have possibly happened on their last mission to make her think such a thing?

Unless... His jaw twitched convulsively. It must have been because she came out injured, and he did not. Perhaps she saw that as some sort of weakness, one she needed to train out of herself.

Itachi shook his head and resumed his steps, knowing he needed to wash before he showed up for breakfast. _Somehow, I'm going to get that stubborn woman to see sense, even if it takes me the rest of my days._

As stubborn as she was, Itachi thought tiredly, his promise might very well become the literal truth.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ This week was busier than I thought it'd be, so I find myself apologizing again for a late update. On the up side, this was one of my favorite chapters thus far to write, so I'm seriously hoping it was worth the wait. I was listening to the Vienna Teng song _Gravity_ (partially the inspiration for the chapter title) while I was writing the first part, and I think it's one of the most intense scenes I've ever written. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for reading!


	7. Stargazers

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _McKazekage_, _rao hyuga 18_, _Singofsolace_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _Guest_, and _greetingsfrommaars_ for all your wonderful, encouraging reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and follows lists - you all are amazing!

**Author's Note:** I really like this chapter. Like - in my top three favorite of the ones I've written so far. The second scene in this chapter - wow. I don't know, I just got so caught up in writing it, and it really endeared itself to me, for some reason. I really hope you all enjoy it, too. Thanks for reading!

* * *

***~Chapter VI~***

_~Stargazers~_

* * *

"You're a real idiot, you know that?"

Itachi wisely kept his mouth shut as Temari not-so-gently cleaned out the wound on his side, still oozing blood. He locked his jaw against the pain of the disinfectant, fixing his gaze on the stars scattered across the clear sky as his partner went about patching him up.

_Ironic, this happening_ _only a couple weeks after I had that thought about her being injured and me not_, he thought. Perhaps he'd unconsciously been thinking about those words when he'd been winged by the kunai.

"Thankfully, I don't think it's deep enough to need stitches." She disposed of the wipe she'd been using, now covered in blood, and reached for a sterile gauze pad. "But it's right on the verge. You're going to have to be really careful."

"A little late for that admonition, isn't it?" Itachi asked conversationally, a crooked smile escaping his control.

Holding the pad in place with one hand, Temari reached for a wrap bandage to hold it in place. "It would seem so," she agreed dryly. "Now raise your arms and hold still." She leaned forward, her cheek practically against his exposed chest as she wrapped the bandage around his torso.

A subtly spicy hint of jasmine filled his nose as the tips of her top two spiky ponytails tickled his chin. He could _feel_ the warmth of her skin against his, spiking his temperature. Itachi slammed his eyes shut, shoving away a sudden, irrational urge to lift his arms and wrap them around Temari's shoulders. Instead he curled his hands into fists and clamped his jaw, shocked at his own reaction. _She hates you, Uchiha. Remember that - for your own sanity, if nothing else._

At last he felt her tie off the end of the bandage and lean away, allowing him to breathe again. "There you go. Don't mess up that bandage, or I'll kill you myself."

Itachi smiled, finding it easier now he had some space. "I promise to be careful."

Temari said nothing, turning away to repack their med kit. Itachi touched the bandage at his side as he watched her, wondering about the thoughts going through her blonde head. She did such a good job keeping her face void of expression, though, so he could never begin to guess. Would she ever open up, even just a little, and let him get to know her?

Her turquoise eyes slid in his direction, and Itachi jerked his head up, pretending he'd been staring at the sky the whole time. It had been a long time since he'd taken the opportunity to stargaze - in fact, the last occasion he'd done so had been just a few days before he'd left on that last mission before the Uchiha massacre. Knowing what was coming, he collected his brother and the two of them sneaked out, sharing a box of pocky as they lay on their backs and picked out familiar constellations.

Running his hand down his face, Itachi let out his breath on a long sigh. _Oh, Sasuke._ He could never return to Konoha, but he hoped to gain even a glimpse of him at some point, that they'd somehow cross paths on a mission or some such thing: Just so he'd know Sasuke was doing all right, was healthy even if not happy.

"What are you thinking?"

Itachi's eyes snapped open, surprised to see Temari sitting so close to him, holding out an energy bar. She wiggled it slightly, eyes flitting from the bar to him and back again several times to encourage him to take it.

Reaching out, he accepted the bar from her with a nod of thanks. Unwrapping it, he took a bite and made a face as he chewed. "And I didn't think the taste of these things could be any worse than Konoha's," he said, half in jest, half to distract her from her question.

Biting into her own, Temari chewed thoroughly and swallowed before repeating her earlier question. "You looked a million miles away. What were you thinking?"

Lifting his face again, Itachi keyed in on the Northern Star, then automatically began tracing his favorite constellations. "About stargazing," he said reluctantly. "And the last time I did so." _Please don't ask me anything more. Please._ If she asked about it, the conversation could very quickly lead down a road he wasn't ready to follow again, even though it'd been five years.

Temari regarded him silently for a long moment, continuing to chew her bar as she watched him. She must have read his disinclination to talk in his eyes, for she finally turned her own gaze up toward the stars. "In Suna, it's really easy to stargaze," she said. "The sky is so clear, you can see nothing but stars from one horizon to the other, until the sky meets the sand."

Itachi made a mental note to check out the view one night. "You stargaze often?"

"No, not really." Temari tucked her energy bar wrapper into her pack and then brushed her hands together. "Just when I have something to think about. Stargazing doesn't require much thinking, so I can do that while I'm pondering my problems."

"Just as doing the rope course has the opposite effect?" He didn't know why he let the words slip out. But they'd escaped now, and there could be no taking them back.

She looked at him sharply, eyes narrow, mouth set in a firm expression of disapproval. "Yes, as a matter of fact. Doing the rope course makes me focus on it to the exclusion of all else." He got a glimpse of the pain in her eyes right before she looked away. "Or at least, it's _supposed_ to."

He regretted bringing up the subject. Tucking away his own trash, he turned his gaze back to the sky. "Thinking too much can get us into trouble sometimes."

A reluctant smile curled up the corner of her mouth. "That it can." Shifting, she dug through her pack until she came up with a thin blanket, which she set on top of her sleeping pallet. "Start off at sunrise?" she asked, abruptly changing the subject.

Itachi reached into his own pack to withdraw a fresh shirt, ignoring the pain in his side as he pulled it over his head. "Sounds good. Starting out that early, we should make it back to Suna before sunset." He didn't look forward to spending the whole day in the saddle, but getting back to his new desert home and officially finishing up this mission with a debrief sounded wonderful. Perhaps he and Temari would even get a few days off before they were sent out again.

"I'll take first watch," Temari said. "...As soon as I get back." Smoothly rising, she vanished among the trees, in the direction of the creek they'd followed for the last hour or so of their journey before making camp.

Tugging his hairband loose, Itachi pushed it down onto his wrist before carefully easing down onto his pallet. He thought about taking a pain pill, since both the wound itself and the ribs beneath were throbbing dully, but he shoved away the urge. Though they had put a good bit of distance between them and the enemy from whom they'd taken their target scroll, he didn't want his reflexes to be bogged down by pain medicine should they be ambushed in the middle of the night. Not to mention he'd have to be awake enough to take his watch later.

Temari returned only a few minutes later, her damp hair framing her face. "Asleep yet?" she whispered.

Cracking open one eye, he rolled his head in her direction. "Not yet. Everything okay?"

Dropping her pack to the ground again, Temari slid off her shoes and settled down onto her pallet, blanket around her shoulders as she stared into the fire. "Water's cold," she said. "Just wanted you to know, in case you head over there in the morning."

"Hn." Temari had washed the worst of the blood off him before wrapping his wound, but she'd warmed the water over the fire first. "Thanks for the warning." He closed his eyes again, hoping he wouldn't roll over in his sleep. "Good night."

She waited until he was almost asleep to respond with a quiet, "Good night" of her own.

* * *

Reliable as clockwork, Matsuri stood waiting by the doorway of Temari's bedroom when the blonde reached her suite.

"Don't you have anything else to do besides wait on me?" Irritated, Temari refused to look at the younger girl as she headed straight toward her private bathing facilities.

Matsuri, seeming unaffected by her mistress's mood, drifted toward the wardrobe. "I help teach at the Academy during the day," she replied, opening the doors. "But Lord Gaara expects me to be back here ready to assist you an hour before the evening meal."

Leaving the door cracked behind herself, Temari twisted the knobs of her sunken tub and started it filling with warm water. Her sponge-off at the creek the night before had done nothing more than make her chilly. "I'll be dining out tonight," she called, gathering a towel and washcloth. "Just leave some clothes on my bed. Doesn't matter what. I'll do everything myself."

A telling silence from the other room made it clear what Matsuri thought of _that_. Finally her voice sounded from the other side of the door. "Are you certain, milady? Lord Gaara-"

"Gaara already knows I won't be there." Temari angrily yanked the ties from her hair, ignoring the pain as several strands came with them. Tossing them onto the nearest shelf, she tugged off her shirt and reached for the tie of her loose pants. "That will be _all_, Matsuri. Thank you." She turned off the water and waited until she heard the door to her suite shut behind her lady's maid before completely disrobing and slipping into the warm water.

Temari leaned her head back wearily against the edge of the tub and closed her eyes, allowing the warm water to soak away the dirt caking her skin. It hadn't been a particularly long mission - all put together, she and Itachi had been away from home for three days - but it had been a hard one. A badly-timed passing guard had sounded the alarm while she was securing the scroll, and they'd had to fight their way out.

She clenched her trembling hand into a fist, staring at a bit of blood still caked under her right ring finger's nail. She hadn't even realized Itachi had been injured until they were well away from the scene, having lost their pursuers in a particularly harrowing chase on horseback through the trees. It had been nothing short of a miracle Kazedansu and Itachi's mount, a chestnut gelding he often borrowed from the stables when they went on missions, hadn't broken a leg. When they'd slowed their horses and Temari saw Itachi's hand go to his side and come away wet with blood, it had taken all her self-control not to panic. She wasn't particularly queasy around blood itself, but seeing it on her partner's hand had brought several unwanted memories roaring back to life.

Snatching up a washcloth, Temari scrubbed at her skin, unable to shake the image of Itachi's hands - and then, later, hers as she patched him up - covered in blood. Her skin prickled, gooseflesh rippling across her arms and up her neck even though the room was warm and steamy from the water. In the back of her mind, the door she always tried to keep shut rattled, shaken on its very hinges by the wailing ghosts locked on the other side.

Neglecting her hair, Temari surged out of the water and hit the lever to drain the tub, furiously rubbing herself dry until her skin looked red and irritated. Continuing to shiver, she gathered her dirty clothes and dumped them in the hamper when she returned to her room.

After dressing, Temari tugged her hair back in a single ponytail before donning her headscarf and leaving her quarters. She took the back staircase, often utilized by servants going about their daytime duties, and slipped out the much smaller rear door. From there, it only took a couple dozen steps before she made it past the stable and onto the nearest street.

Slipping into the flow of foot traffic - heavier since the sun had nearly set - Temari turned her steps toward Restaurant Row. Though many others around her also wound up in the same place, none accompanied her to her ultimate destination.

Sumi noticed her the moment she slipped inside. The blonde, busy assembling a tray behind the counter, caught Temari's eye and nodded toward an empty table at the very back corner of the place. Grateful for her friend's thoughtfulness, Temari made her way across the eatery and settled onto one of the two cushions at the table. She unwound her headscarf, folded it up, and set it next to her before reaching for the bottle and cup sitting in front of her.

After all this time, Sumi knew to expect Temari - and why. No matter how busy the restaurant seemed when the eldest Sabaku sibling entered, Sumi never asked for help, and always declined if Temari offered. The two women had an understanding, on this day of all days.

Flipping the cup with one hand, Temari reached for the bottle with the other, the motions as familiar as breathing now. Uncorking it, she allowed the pungent scent of _saké_ to fill her nostrils as she carefully filled the cup and lifted it to hover in front of her mouth. Closing her eyes, she drew in a shaky breath and whispered, "To you, Hikaru." She knocked the drink back, tasting the burn on her tongue, in her throat, all the way down to her stomach as she added, "I'm sorry." Her voice broke - she chose to blame the _saké_ instead of her own roiling emotions - so she cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm _so sorry_."

She rested her head against her wrist, gulping air past the fire still burning in her throat. Her eyes fell on the nearby bottle, and she subtly glanced at Sumi from the corner of her eye. Though not full, the restaurant was reasonably busy, and her friend bustled from table to table while paying no attention to Temari in the corner, respecting her privacy.

Turning back to the bottle, Temari lifted her head as she lowered the cup back to the table. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw bright red blood filling her vision. So much blood...

What she wouldn't give to have the darkness back, even if just for a few moments.

Biting her lower lip, Temari glanced toward Sumi again. The restaurant's proprietress threw back her head and laughed at something one of the customers said to her, looking for all the world like nothing was wrong in her world. But she knew, and Temari knew. Sumi dealt with the situation with the innocence of one out of direct control of a situation, whose actions made not one whit of difference either way. Temari, however, had no such benefit. She was far from innocent. Her actions _had_ made every difference in the world, and she realized she was no closer to dealing with her guilt now than she had been five years ago.

It always plagued her, but this night of bitter memories was worse. Now her still slightly tender shoulder, combined with the too-recent image of the deep gash on Itachi's side, reminded her no matter how hard she trained, no matter how hard she tried, she was no stronger, no more capable of doing things right, than she had been back then.

She was just five years older and five years guiltier.

Decision made, she reached for the bottle of _saké_ and poured herself another cup. This time when the darkness came - and she would make _sure_ it did - she would welcome it with open arms, even if it would only last a few hours.

* * *

The knock on his door roused Itachi from his shallow doze, a few hours having passed since he'd returned from dinner. As he crossed the room, he ran a hand over his hair to make sure it didn't look_ too_ tousled before swiping his fingers across his mouth. Assured of his satisfactory appearance, Itachi opened the door, surprised to see a petite, undistinguished appearing brown-haired woman he'd never laid eyes on before standing there. "May I help you?" he asked, his tone carrying more meaning than the surface question.

Bobbing a curtsy, the maid stared at a point on his chin as she replied, "I am Matsuri, sir, Lady Temari's maid." She bit her lip and glanced over her shoulder, almost guiltily, before turning back to him. "Both Lord Gaara and Lord Kankuro are in meetings, and I'm due to leave on an emergency mission in only a moment. But I needed someone to help, and since I know you and Lady Temari have gone on several missions recently, and-"

Itachi held up a hand. "Whoa, slow down," he said gently. Though unable to make heads or tails of Matsuri's hurried speech, he did understand Temari had something to do with the reason for her being at his door. "Is Temari ill?"

Matsuri hesitated for a telling moment before shaking her head. "No," she denied softly. "Not in the way you mean. But - she needs to come home. And you're the only person available to help." Her big brown eyes took on a suspicious sheen. "Please, sir," she whispered.

As soon as he understood Temari wasn't in the house, Itachi moved to grab the closest robe and headscarf at his disposal. "Where is she?" he asked, closing the door behind himself before falling into step with Matsuri.

"At her friend Sumi's restaurant," Matsuri replied. "Do you know where that is?"

"Yes." Though he'd only been there once, Itachi had a pretty good idea of where it was and how to get there. "Is she all right?"

A long sigh escaped Matsuri as she shook her head. "I don't know. Usually she's home by now, but..." She trailed off, biting her lower lip nervously. "I'm sorry, I can't explain further right now. I have to go."

"It's all right. I'll bring her home." Itachi readjusted his headscarf and nodded at Matsuri as they both stepped through the massive double doors at the front of the building. "Thank you for coming to get me."

Matsuri nodded, then swung atop a small brown mare waiting for her in the courtyard. She shared a another very worried look with Itachi, then rode away.

Turning in the opposite direction, Itachi moved fluidly through the streets, simultaneously watching for familiar landmarks and someone of Temari's height and build among the crowd. He didn't want to miss her heading in the opposite direction, and much doubted she would say anything if she saw him.

He took two wrong turns, but even with the delay he still made it to Sumi's eatery in good time. Pushing open the door, Itachi scanned the room even before he was fully inside, tugging his scarf away from his mouth as he shut the door behind himself.

It was very late, almost midnight, and only four people remained in the place: Sumi, standing with her back to the door behind the counter, a couple sitting at a table close to the door, heads close as they smiled and whispered to each other, and a familiar blonde form leaning against the wall at a table in the back corner of the room.

Itachi let out his breath in relief upon seeing her, feeling his shoulders relax slightly. Tugging off his headscarf, he threaded his way around the tables between him and Temari, gaze focused on her slumped form. Before he could reach her, though, Sumi stepped between them. He halted to keep from running into her, both surprised and irritated by her sudden appearance.

"You're here to take her home?" Though phrased as a question, Itachi heard the certainty in Sumi's voice.

"Yes." Itachi glanced over the tiny blonde's head, noting the bottle in the center of the table, and the cup dangling in Temari's loose grip. "What happened?"

Sumi sighed, the vibrancy she'd showed when Itachi first met her sliding out of her along with the air in her lungs. "She's come here every night on this date for the past five years," she explained, voice low enough only Itachi could hear her. "This is the first time I've seen her get drunk, though."

"Why-?" Itachi's mouth snapped shut, cutting off the rest of his query. Several pieces clicked together in his mind, forming a picture he didn't like at all.

"I tried to keep an eye on her, but I've been fairly busy all night," Sumi said, as if she hadn't heard his truncated question. "It's not her fault. I thought she was dealing with things all right, but now..." She turned slightly, staring sadly in Temari's direction.

"I'll make sure she gets home all right," Itachi said. "Thank you for watching over her."

Nodding quietly, Sumi offered a soft, sad smile before turning away, going to speak quietly to the couple by the door. Itachi continued on to Temari's table, kneeling next to her as he whispered, "Temari."

Her head rolled slowly in his direction, and he saw the tear tracks glistening on her flushed cheeks. She stared at him with eyes clouded equally with drunkenness and tears, no sign of recognition on her face.

"Come on, Temari." Making sure to keep his movements unhurried and gentle, Itachi reached for the cup. She let go of it without a fuss, allowing him to set it down on the table, next to some money already lying there. Slowly, she blinked at him - once, twice - but she never looked away.

"It's time to go home." Itachi gathered her limp, cold hand in his, wrapping an arm around her shoulder to help guide her from her seat. She complied without argument, responding to each of his gentle, nonverbal nudges. When she stood, swaying, on her feet, she allowed him to settle her cream-colored headscarf into place, then watched with blank eyes as he adjusted his own.

"All right, let's go." Itachi took Temari's hand, lacing their fingers to make sure they stayed together as he headed toward the door. He walked slowly, shortening his strides to match hers, ready to catch her should her unsteady legs buckle. He shared one last significant look with Sumi, then guided Temari through the door and out into the still surprisingly busy streets of Suna.

He felt doubly glad for the anonymity their headscarves offered them as they moved through the streets. Itachi felt certain Temari wouldn't want any of her people to see her so lost, like a broken doll. Every few steps he glanced down at her, noting the fresh tears trickling from the corners of her eyes to vanish behind or soak into the length of fabric swathing her face.

"We're almost there," he murmured, heart breaking. Temari had been nothing short of a spitfire during their admittedly short acquaintance, giving every appearance of thriving in her home and chosen profession. Though he'd sensed something about her seemed somehow off, he _never_ would have suspected something like this happening to her.

Thankfully they met no one in the halls of the house once they made it past the guards at the gate, and then at the front doors. He led her up the stairs, each slow, heavy step sounding so loud in the stillness he nearly winced. When they reached the landing on his floor, he hesitated, unsure where to go next.

Temari suddenly moved, slipping her hand from his. Reaching for her headscarf, she unwound it, hair falling free as she pulled it off her head. "I jus' wanted - wanted th' black again," she slurred. "I'm tired-a th' red."

Taking off his own scarf, Itachi rested his hand against her shoulder, guiding her swaying form a little further away from the steps. He wasn't taking _any_ chances. "What red?" he asked gently.

She stared up at him, the shutters usually hiding her emotions wide open, making her eyes windows to her tormented soul. He had to force himself not to take a startled step back at the depth of the guilt, the _agony_ he saw there.

"Th' blood." She held up her empty hand between them, her gaze shifting from him to it with a kind of morbid fascination. "Can'tcha see it? It's all over - stainin' everythin'..." She turned and walked away with surprisingly steady steps, her head bowed, shoulders hunched.

Itachi followed her, unwilling to leave her alone. She led him up another flight of steps, then down a hall, not seeming to notice his presence. Finally she stopped at a door, trying twice before she got it open. She went inside, her scarf dropping to the floor unnoticed as she stumbled toward a door across the sitting room. Itachi hovered in the doorway, uncertain what to do next, but knowing he needed to make sure she wasn't going to hurt herself before he left her alone.

He needn't have worried. When she opened her bedroom door, he was able to see straight through to her bed, where she collapsed - still fully clothed - and instantly fell asleep, her hand falling onto a pillow more or less still in front of her face.

Letting out his breath, Itachi watched her for a few moments, making certain she was fully asleep before he entered the suite, leaving the door open behind him. Very carefully, he slid her shoes off her feet, then eased her legs fully onto the mattress. Next he poured a cup of water from the carafe sitting on the table in the corner of the sitting room, got a wet cloth from her washroom, and set both on the nightstand. He glanced at her sleeping face once more, started to leave, then went to retrieve a trash can and set it next to her bed as an afterthought.

At last he left the room, closing the doors as quietly as he could so he wouldn't wake her. Closing his eyes, he rested his head against the closed outer door, haunted by the image of her tearstained, tormented face.

"Thank you."

Itachi startled at the voice behind him. He jerked around, immediately reining in his impulse to attack as he recognized the voice as Gaara's. The man had an eerie ability to sneak up on him.

Gaara seemed unaffected by Itachi's near-attack. He glanced at the closed door, then at Itachi. "We haven't had to get her since the first year," he said softly. "Thank you for taking care of her."

Wondering how long Suna's leader had been watching, Itachi nodded. "Lady Temari is a strong woman," he said. "But we all have things we struggle with. What kind of person, or partner, would I be, if I did not help her?"

Those intense green eyes flickered, but Itachi couldn't see past Gaara's carefully cultivated expression to decipher it. The redhead remained silent for a full minute, the discomfort stretching between the two men growing stronger and tighter.

Then, finally, "Yes," Gaara agreed, tone thoughtful. "What indeed?" He offered a nod, then moved past Itachi, opened the door, and slipped into his sister's rooms.

Itachi shook his head, as always left puzzled by Gaara's enigmatic words. The man _knew_ something - probably several somethings - but didn't seem inclined to share. He also seemed to expect something from Itachi, and perhaps even his sister.

But what?

He returned to his room, completing his before-bedtime routine by rote. His spinning mind, left unoccupied by his lack of physical activity or anything else to distract him, did not let him fall asleep for many hours.

When at last he succumbed to his exhaustion, Itachi dreamed of Temari's silent, tear-streaked face and his own heartbreaking inability to help.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Note:**_ This chapter is in my top three favorites of all the ones I've written so far. There's just _something_ about it, particularly the second scene, that really endeared itself to me. I really hope you all enjoy it, too, thank you for reading, and I hope to see you again for the next update!


	8. Burn

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _McKazekage_, _Starlit Paradise_, _rao hyuga 18_, _Guest_, _greetingsfrommaars_, and _TheGirlWithNoIQ_ for all your amazing reviews! Also thanks to those of you who have added this story to their favorites and follows lists!

**Author's Notes:** A reviewer asked how old Temari is, so I decided I'd answer the question in an author's note so everyone can know (sorry I didn't put it in before)... She's 23, Itachi's 24, and Gaara is 16, just getting ready to turn 17. In this chapter we see the fallout from the last, and I get to set up something for a new story arc starting in the next chapter! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

***~Chapter VII~***

_~Burn~_

* * *

The early morning light stabbed a thousand searing needles through Temari's closed eyelids, making the already horrendous pain in her head increase tenfold. Moaning, she rolled onto her side, trying to escape the light, the pain, the roiling nausea-

Temari jolted upwards, ignoring the shattering pain in favor of trying to get up and make it to the toilet room. Before she could even get completely upright, a trash can suddenly appeared before her, as if her desperation had summoned it from thin air. Snatching it, she held it beneath her face just in time to be thoroughly and miserably sick.

When she finally stopped heaving, her throbbing head quickly reminded her of her other problem. Cupping her forehead, Temari squinted at one of the doors across the room, wondering if she was steady enough to make it to the washroom or if the journey would require too much effort.

Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention to Gaara, who stood next to her bed holding a washcloth out towards her. "Thank you," she croaked. The cloth was slightly stiff, as if it had been sitting out for a while, but still damp enough to serve its purpose. As she wiped her flushed face, her little brother took the trashcan and vanished through the toilet room door.

Searching the murky depths of her admittedly faulty memory, Temari tried to piece together the sequence of events which had landed her in this condition. She remembered returning from the mission with Itachi. She also remembered staying in the house long enough to bathe and change clothes, then going to Sumi's. She remembered saluting Hikaru, like usual, but after that things got kind of - fuzzy.

Careful not to change altitudes too quickly, Temari reclined onto her pillows again, still clutching the damp cloth in her limp hand. She draped her arm over her eyes, desperate for relief from the pulsing, nearly blinding pain in her head.

"Here's the trash can back." A soft _thump_ next to the bed accompanied her brother's voice, lowered in respect of her pain.

"Thanks," Temari repeated. She waved her free hand vaguely, which held the washcloth, in the general direction of the can. "For everything."

Gaara's voice came from a slight distance when he replied, as if he were closer to the washroom. "Actually, it was Itachi who originally put the can and cloth next to your bed. I just handed them to you."

She felt her cheeks heat as the Uchiha's name triggered a rapid series of disjointed images which flashed through her mind so quickly she barely had a chance to comprehend one before the next one appeared. She'd (stupidly) wound up drinking the whole bottle of _saké_, all by herself, in hopes of escaping her memories for a while. Then Itachi showed up. He must have brought her back to the house. Bits and pieces of a conversation they'd had floated around her hazy mind and bumped into each other - something about colors and then everything else was a complete blank until she woke up. . .

. . .Extremely nauseous and with this horrifically crushing headache.

Her cheeks grew even hotter. Itachi had seen her at her lowest, at her worst. She could only imagine the scorn he'd wear on his face the next time he encountered her. _This is terrible_, she moaned silently. _After all that work, I blow it with one brilliantly stupid move._ Why had she given in to that urge to get drunk? Why couldn't she have just offered her usual salute and then spent the rest of the evening in quiet contemplation until Sumi joined her, as was their custom?

The only thing lacking to make her humiliation utterly complete was her partner's presence now. Much as she hated having her little brother seeing her like this, having Itachi view this shameful aftermath would've been _so_ much worse.

When Gaara spoke again, Temari thought he had settled next to the door separating the bedroom from the sitting room. "I know what you're thinking," he said wisely.

Temari groaned. Her brother wasn't _the_ perfect ninja just because of his physical prowess - he had the mental side of it down cold, too. "And what _am_ I thinking?" she demanded crabbily.

"That you've worked so hard to prove to Itachi that you're powerful and perfectly capable of handling everything yourself," her brother replied. "And now you've had a moment of weakness, he's going to judge you for it. You think he'll hate you. See you as weak. Scorn you."

Gooseflesh prickled along her arms and neck. As usual, her dear baby brother hit the nail on the head. "Why wouldn't he?" she asked.

"Because he understands things a little more than you think." If Temari didn't know better, she would have thought her brother sounded _smug_.

Her anger flared, a swelling flood of heat that cascaded from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes. Temari jolted up, ignoring the exloding pain in her head as well as the way the room tilted and swung around her as she shot back, "Last night was entirely his _fault_!" Her voice broke on the last word. She swallowed back the nausea trying to swell into her throat. She was _not_ going to cast up her accounts again!

Gaara stared at her with unblinking intensity. "How?" he asked mildly.

Temari curled her hands into fists and braced them on the mattress to either side of her. "He saved me from drowning when I was twelve," she snapped. "I had everything under control until _he_ showed up and dredged up _that_ memory, and the rest of them with it!"

"Seems to me," her brother said casually, "that if something as simple as Itachi's arrival brought up those things to such an - extreme - degree, you didn't have your situation as under control as you've made me and Kankuro think."

She winced, knowing and hating the fact he was right. "It's not that I lied to you," she said defensively. "Even _I_ was surprised by the severity and frequency of my dreams and feelings." She grabbed the washcloth, which had fallen into her lap, and began twisting it viciously, really digging in with her nails. "I wasn't expecting it. But I _can_ deal with it. I promise."

"Are you sure?" Gaara's eyes drifted meaningfully from her, to the washcloth, to the trash can.

_To be honest, no. Not at this very moment._ But as soon as the thought took shape in her mind Temari fiercely thrust it away. She was Sabaku Temari, sister of the leader of Suna, and a top-ranking ninja in her own right. She _would_ overcome this, just as she had before. She _would_ just regain the control she'd had before Itachi's arrival, and easily keep going the way she had been. "Yes," she said firmly. All she had to do was force herself to forget again. No, it wouldn't be easy, but she'd done it once. _Certainly_ she could do it again.

The stare with which her brother pinned her made it clear he knew her line of thought. Temari put her chin up another degree or so and met his gaze squarely, determined not to let him talk her out of - or worse, _into_ - anything. Just when she thought she wasn't going to be able to hold it any longer, he snorted softly and stood. "You can have two days to recover," he said, turning to take hold of the door handle. "Examine yourself very closely, Temari. The next mission I have for you and Itachi will take you well outside the Land of Wind, and will require you to be at the very top of your game. I will need your honest assessment then whether anything will interfere with your professional performance. Oh," he paused halfway through the door, "one more thing: No rope course. If you _are_ able to go on this mission, your hands will need not to have rope burns on them."

After Gaara left and she'd taken the opportunity to rewet the washcloth so she could put it over her eyes, Temari collapsed back against her pillows. _Was_ there anything that, in her brother's words, could "interfere" with her carrying out her ninja duties? Dismally, she faced the one-word answer to that question: _Itachi_.

* * *

Itachi did not see Temari at all the day after her episode. Though he had anticipated she'd be stuck in bed all day with a nasty hangover, he'd still hoped to see her, just to ensure she'd suffered no mental or emotional ill effects from her encounter with too much _saké_.

The next day, however, he found her in the stable, feeding an apple to her beautiful mare. "Good morning," he said cautiously. Uncertain about how much she remembered about their last encounter, he feared she might be angry at him.

Temari didn't turn away from Kazedansu, but she did lift up her free hand in a flippant sort of wave. "Hmm," she replied. It could have been a response to his greeting, or it could have been a dismissal. Itachi wasn't sure, but he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Going for an early morning ride?" Itachi stroked the blaze of the chestnut gelding he'd become accustomed to riding during his time in Suna.

"Thinking about it." Temari patted her horse's neck before pivoting toward the tack room. "Kazedansu and I have some training to do."

Training was something Itachi had grown very used to over the course of his acquaintance with Temari. "What kind of training?" he asked interestedly.

She paused a few steps away and glanced at him over her shoulder, looking surprised. "The race, of course!" she said, in a tone which questioned his intelligence.

Feeling quite as if he were missing something important, Itachi rubbed the back of his neck and tilted his head questioningly. "What race?"

Whirling to face him fully, Temari stared at him, completely dumbfounded. "How can you _not_ have heard about the race?" She threw up one hand. "What am I saying? Of course you haven't heard about the race. It's not like it's important or anything. It's only the opening ceremony for Suna's Founder's Festival. Not important in the least, no way, no how."

Itachi could _feel_ the wave of Temari's sarcasm roll over and around him. "All right," he said slowly. "I haven't heard about the race before," _maybe because, oh, I'm not actually _from_ Suna_, he resisted adding. "Could you please explain it to me?" Granted, her rant gave him pretty good idea, but he still wanted specifics so he didn't make any bigger a fool of himself if in the unlikely event it came up in conversation at some other point, with someone else.

Crossing her arms, Temari reeled off what sounded like a very practiced explanation. "Suna's Founder's Festival takes place at the end of December. It kicks off with a horse race on Thursday. The next night is a puppet show." She rolled her eyes and grimaced. "Saturday is a martial arts demonstration and competition. The wrap-up is a fireworks display on Sunday."

Sounded somewhat similar to Konoha's Founder's Festival, except for the horse race and martial arts demonstration. "Hn." Itachi calmly met Temari's gaze as he rocked his weight from heel to toe. "Can anyone enter the horse race, or...?" He let the question dangle hopefully. He wasn't a magnificent rider, by any means, but he'd enjoyed some casual races with some of his friends back in Konoha. He hadn't been thrown during any of them, so he had a feeling he could handle anything Suna's event offered.

Temari's lips pursed as if she'd just tasted something sour. She eyed him, as if to determine his strength and ability, then gave a little toss of her head. "You have to know how to ride and be a citizen of Suna. As long as you meet both those standards, I don't suppose anything can stop you." Without another word, she turned and resumed her march toward the tack room.

Itachi bit back a smile as he turned back to rub Kobiyashi on his silky nose. "You up for a race?" he asked the gelding, keeping his voice low and soothing.

"Oh, wait, there _is_ one more rule I almost forgot." Temari returned, her saddle held comfortably in front of her, a smug smile on her lips. "You have to _own_ the horse you ride." The final rule having been delivered, she slipped into her horse's stall and began saddling Kazedansu.

Disappointment, fiercer than he would have expected, sparked in Itachi's chest. Leaning back a little, he said, "But you need someone to train with, right? Any rules about a little unofficial racing?"

Temari's blonde head appeared around the wall separating them, her eyebrows vanishing beneath her bangs as she met his eyes. "I guess not," she said. A little smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "It'll be a pleasure beating you, anyway."

_We'll see about _that_,_ Itachi tossed silently over his shoulder as he headed to retrieve his own saddle.

A few minutes later found the pair riding a circuit around the inner side of the village's massive wall, warming up their horses' muscles as well as their own.

"This is actually the race course," Temari said as they trotted along, the heat relatively low due to the early hour. "We ride three laps around, and first one across the finish line wins it all."

"So what is the prize?" Itachi asked. He had no idea _why_ he felt so strong an urge to pursue the matter, since he didn't own a horse and thus couldn't enter the race anyway. But he hoped he would eventually be able to buy a mount of his own, and he wanted to know what he'd be racing for before he started looking for one.

"A nice big shiny trophy and bragging rights for a whole year," Temari said. Tossing a saucy grin at him over her shoulder, she said, "And, for the record? I've got three trophies, and I plan on getting another this time 'round, too."

_Rub it in._ Itachi patted Kobiyashi's neck, rising in his stirrups as the gelding naturally flowed into a canter, following Kazedansu's lead. They were coming up on the start/finish line, by the narrow entrance into the village, and he called over to Temari, "Ready to start?"

At the blonde's nod, they pulled their horses to a stop at the line. For a few seconds they stood side by side, their minds cleared of everything except the race ahead - only one lap, since the temperature was already rising.

Temari shouted, "Go!" and they both spurred their horses into an instant gallop. They pounded across the tightly-packed sand, neck to neck, adrenaline pumping, voices softly urging on their mounts, eyes focused straight ahead. As they approached the first marker, a fourth of the way around the track, Temari and Kazedansu pulled ahead first by a stride, then a head, then by half a length. Her laughter floated back to him as she curled even tighter against her mare's neck, making herself more aerodynamic to give herself even more of an advantage.

Itachi refused to give up that easily, however. Though both taller and heavier than Temari, he followed her example and tucked himself into the space just above Kobiyashi's bobbing neck, the gelding's mane snapping against his face with every stride. He ignored the sting, zeroing in on Kazedansu's churning hindquarters just a length-and-a-half ahead of him. For now he felt content hanging back, conserving the energy of both himself and his horse. Let Temari and her mare wear themselves out. It would make it even easier to pass them at just the right moment and secure the win.

Even if there wasn't a big, shiny trophy waiting at the end of this race, if he did win, he knew he could claim bragging rights, even if only for a couple of days. That was enough for him.

They flashed past the halfway point, the blue flag a mere blur against the uniform tan background of the wall behind it. He looked over Temari's head, already setting his sights on the three-fourth's flag even though he couldn't physically _see_ it yet. He'd make his move there, using Kobiyashi's conserved energy to surge past his competitor just in time to put a few lengths between them and win the race. He'd used the strategy many times before, and it had yet to fail him.

Kobiyashi was as anxious to pass Kazedansu and Temari as Itachi, so it didn't take much to urge the gelding into a faster pace. He surged forward with a fresh burst of speed, coming up on the mare and her rider much faster than even Itachi had anticipated. He got a brief glimpse of the expression of shock on Temari's face before he passed her and her tiring mount. He could see the finishing line now, so close now he could practically taste his impending victory. Allowing himself a tiny smile, he urged Kobiyashi forward with firm hands and legs and an encouraging murmur into the horse's rapidly twitching ears. Just a few lengths now, so close, almost there-

Out of nowhere, Temari and Kazedansu surged past them on the left, pushing ahead to win by a head. Standing in her stirrups, the blonde shot a triumphant look over her shoulder.

Itachi pulled alongside. "_How_?" he demanded. It was the only word he could manage to choke out past his sheer shock.

Temari tossed him another grin. "Easy," she said. "Kazedansu and I have been training for a _three_-lap race. You and Kobiyashi haven't had the benefit of such training, and we only ran one lap." She waved one hand vaguely. "We could keep going for another two laps, easily."

Of _course. She faked me out_. Grinding his teeth in frustration, Itachi shook his head. "One of these days," he said, half as a promise, half as a threat. "One of these days, Lady Temari, I'm going to beat you."

Tilting her head in acknowledgement, Temari's grin eased to a smile. "Maybe," she said. "But not today, definitely. Tomorrow - probably not. But I do look forward to that day when you _try_ again." Abruptly, she reined her mare around and headed for the stables, leaving Itachi staring after her, torn among frustration, irritation, and amazement.

Apparently she _did_ remember what happened a couple of nights ago. And, as he'd expected, she wasn't happy about it.

After all, what other reason would she have for playing such mind games with him?

Itachi took the long way back to the stables to help Kobiyashi cool off. By the time he arrived, a rubbed-down Kazedansu stood alone in her stall, Temari nowhere in sight. Probably just as well, since he really didn't feel like continuing their little - well, whatever it was in which they'd been engaging.

He took his time unsaddling and rubbing down his mount, wondering when he could get in some extra training himself. Granted, he couldn't enter the race without owning his own mount, but he and Temari had a rivalry now.

And he wasn't going let it go until he finally beat her at her own game - no matter how long it took.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ A reviewer asked how old Temari is, so I decided I'd answer the question in an author's note so everyone can know (sorry I didn't put it in before)... She's 23, Itachi's 24, and Gaara is 16, just getting ready to turn 17. There're so many exciting things coming in the next few chapters, so I hope to see you for them, as well! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	9. Masquerade

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _rao hyuga 18_, _McKazekage_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _Guest_, and _greetingsfrommaars_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and follows lists!

**Author's Note:** I finally, _finally_ get to start this story arc! I've been looking forward to it for a while now (obviously...), because a _lot_ of exciting things get to happen. Itachi and Temari have been excited, too, and their nattering away in my head makes it very easy for me to write these chapters - the words just flow out. So you can except some pretty long chapters coming up! Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

***~Chapter VIII~***

_~Masquerade~_

* * *

During the course of her ninja career, Temari had previously been on a grand total of three undercover missions. The first, at thirteen, had sent her to the _daimyo_'s home as a maid-in-training (if she had to pick up another feather duster in her life, she'd croak!) to help bring down a ring of thieves using children to smuggle valuable objects from the home of the Land of Wind's leader.

Her second, at seventeen, sent her to the distant Land of Birds as a _ronin_, supposedly accused of having attacked and killed several traveling merchants and then fencing their stolen goods along the way. She'd been accompanied by Baki, the head of Suna's war council, posing as the man who trained her. Together, they brought down a group of genuine _ronin_ who had somehow worked their way into the Land of Birds' government, and were attempting to overthrow the _daimyo_.

Temari did not like to think of her third undercover assignment, taken on at age eighteen, as it had gone so terribly wrong. At the end of it, she'd longed to vow never to take on an undercover mission again, but she was too loyal to her brother and village to do such a thing. Such loyalty landed her in a briefing with Gaara and - _oh joy_ - Itachi for her fourth undercover mission.

"As you know," Gaara began, staring at them over his hands clasped in front of his face, "a group of thieves and murderers have been attacking travelers on several roads leading from village to village and country to country, roughly centered around the Land of Gems. Ninja from several countries have tried to shut down the ring, but they either miss the group entirely - or are wiped out."

_Exactly what I suspected_. Temari had kept up with the situation, especially since the trouble involved several villages, not just her own. Suna was isolated, especially in comparison to some others, but even they were beginning to feel the effects of the rogue group's actions. Unease blossomed in her mind as she thought about the other ninja teams sent out. The life of a ninja always contained more than its share of danger, but what was her brother _thinking_, sending them out after a group which had slaughtered teams much bigger than two?

Gaara evidently read the doubt in her expression because he focused on her as he continued. "Even if all the other teams sent out have ultimately failed, they have gathered enough information for us to narrow down to a very small area the headquarters for the group. Trying to catch them on the road has gotten no one anywhere. Continuing to do so will result in more of the same. And, even if one team did happen to get lucky and capture or kill the attacking group, it would do us no good."

Itachi nodded slowly, drawing Temari's attention in his direction. "I think I see where you're going with this, Lord Gaara," he said. "If we attack the group's _headquarters_, we'll hit them in the head and the heart - places from which they cannot recover."

Lips twitching in what might have been an approving smile, Gaara returned Itachi's nod. "Precisely. Even if a few groups are out plundering when you strike their headquarters, they'll not be able to rally - at least not quickly. If we can take down the heart of the organization, the smaller branches out on raids will be easier to deal with later."

It was a daring plan, but Temari wasn't sure how successful it could possibly be. "That's very well and good, but with all due respect, little brother, how do you expect this to work when so many other ninja teams have failed?"

"Because you'll not be going as official ninja." Leaning forward, Gaara picked up two files and handed them across the desk to his sister and her partner, his expression grim. "I've been sending out careful rumors for the past few weeks about a wealthy newlywed couple intending to honeymoon in the Land of Gems. Though the route this couple is intending to take has been kept secret, they are intending to stay in one of the most opulent rental homes in the area."

Temari's earlier bad feeling increased tenfold. For a moment all she could do was stare, stupefied, at the contents of the file in her hands. Her new indentity painted her as a spoiled, rich heiress from the Tea Country by the name of Kayo. She'd recently married Hattori Hanbei, a noble from the same, in an arrangement meant to create and cement ties between two formerly feuding clans.

The fact she was going undercover as a married woman didn't particularly bother Temari. She'd always known such a cover would probably be necessary eventually. But she _did_ feel bothered - extraordinarily so! - by the identity of her "husband." Uchiha Itachi, of all people! Couldn't Gaara have picked someone _else_ to be her spouse, and sent Itachi along as a stableboy or something?

She bit her tongue so harshly she tasted blood. Though Gaara was six years younger than her, technically making Temari the head of the household as the eldest Sabaku sibling, in all matters pertaining to the village and its safety she had no choice but to bow to his orders - even if she did not agree with them. He was her superior and liege lord, making his word her law.

Knowing Gaara would never send her into a situation he felt anything less than absolutely confident she could handle made her feel even more trapped.

At her side, Itachi shut his own file quietly and said, "We will not let you down, Lord Gaara. Thank you for trusting us with this mission."

Temari's head whipped around. How _dare_ Itachi speak for both of them! Her mouth opened to let loose with a hot, scathing reply, but Gaara smoothly cut her off before she could even make a sound. "Matsuri and Soichiro will accompany you as your lady's maid and valet, respectively," he said. "Playing the roles of servants, they will also be able to go places you two will not, which will help you complete your mission faster."

"And the four of us are intended to take down the entire ring by ourselves?" Temari was unable to swallow back the sting of sarcasm in her question, a fact which did not go unnoticed by Gaara or Itachi.

"You will travel with a large group of servants and bodyguards, also undercover ninja," Gaara said calmly, unaffected by her words or tone. _Nothing_ could shake her brother's constant, almost inhuman, composure. "Since the place you'll be staying comes fully equipped with servants, save for lady's maid and valet, naturally, the rest of your retinue will be released into the village, ostensibly for a 'vacation' until it comes time for you to return home. They will stand ready to follow you the moment you discover your target."

Her brother really _had_ thought of everything. Except... "What makes you think we won't be attacked on the road? I know you said our route has been withheld from any rumors, but since we'll be traveling with such an ostentatious group, it seems like we'll be a perfect target."

"Though they are a heartless band of thieves and murderers, they are not stupid," Gaara replied. "I chose this timeframe to launch the mission because the New Year is quickly approaching. The Land of Gems is an enormously popular destination and vacationers will be heading there practically in droves to celebrate it. I feel reasonably sure the thieves will not be so hasty to attack, since the roads will be busier than usual with travelers who have doubled, or even tripled, their security. If they were happened upon by another such group in the middle of a raid, they could easily be overpowered by the combined forces. It is too risky - for them."

Temari suddenly began to see the part of the plan her brother had not yet addressed. "With all those people pouring into the Land of Gems, their headquarters, they'll wait to raid _houses_. Why risk themselves on the road when everyone is coming right to them - walking directly into their trap, as it were?" It really _was_ brilliant. _It is too risky for them, yes - but not for us._

Gaara nodded at her, expression both proud and pleased. "My thoughts exactly."

Even though Temari was still not looking forward to this mission - for a plethora of reasons - her brother's confidence seemed contagious.

Many other ninja had tried and failed to bring down this ring. But their loss, Temari knew, would be Suna's gain.

This was just the challenge she needed to prove to herself - and everyone else - she could make up for her last undercover mission's abysmal failure. She would _make_ this a success, for Suna, for Hikaru-

-And for herself.

* * *

Almost a week after leaving Suna, the road-weary and saddle-sore group of Suna ninja reached the massive estate Gaara had arranged for the newlywed Hattori to stay in for the duration of their mission.

While the "servants" they'd brought with them buzzed about the courtyard sorting out their master and mistress's luggage, Itachi and Temari dismounted and advanced toward the ornate double front doors of the house. Stained glass windows reflected the sun's rays as the massive wooden doors swung open with surprising silence, considering their size. The couple entered the house, Matsuri and Soichiro a few steps behind them, and halted at the vision of opulence with which they were immediately faced.

"Extravagant much?" Temari muttered under her breath as she and Itachi entered the elaborate front hall, where the staff of the estate stood lined up in two rows. They all bowed, eyes focused on the cold white marble beneath their feet as they murmured greetings to the house's renters.

Itachi, seeming even more comfortable in the role of a noble than Temari, motioned for everyone to stand straight. "Thank you for the warm welcome," he said with a smile. He slanted a glance at Temari out of the corner of his eye, and the rakish tilt to his lips made her tempted to slap him as he went on, "We look forward to our stay here."

A sudden alarming vision of bedspreads covered in rose petals and soft candlelight illuminating the room made Temari yearn to turn and bolt. But she'd worked hard over the past several days to build a convincing character, and with a smile, she slid her hand through Itachi's arm. "I agree."

After Itachi went over the things he expected of the staff, they took off to fulfill their respective duties. A housemaid led Soichiro and Matsuri toward the servants' quarters, closer to the kitchen, and the head of the staff, a delicate dark-haired, dark-eyed woman named Sara, led Itachi and Temari up a beautiful staircase to the upper level of the house, and from there to their adjoining suites.

Two doors - one in the sitting room and one in the bedroom - led from Temari's suite into Itachi's. When Sara's back was turned, Temari checked the door in the bedroom to make sure it had a lock. It wasn't that she really distrusted Itachi - he'd been nothing less than a gentleman towards her ever since his arrival in Suna - but she much preferred being safe rather than sorry.

Touching a long gold rope in the corner of Temari's bedroom, Sara said, "There is one of these here, and one in the master's room. Both ring into the kitchen and can be heard at all hours of the day and night." She glided back out into the sitting room, then paused at the doorway. "If I can be of any more assistance, please let me know. For now, I shall let you settle in." She bowed, then slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Letting out a long breath, Temari reached up to pull out the hairpins painfully scraping her scalp. She'd dressed comfortably for the majority of the journey, but for their arrival, Matsuri had helped her don something a little fancier so she looked the part. "Well, we're here," she stated.

"We certainly made enough ruckus when we got here. If anyone connected to the ring is in town, they'll know a wealthy couple just showed up. I have no doubt they'll be salivating to have a go at our 'riches' as soon as they can arrange something." Itachi opened the door connecting their sitting rooms, poking his head through to examine his own quarters. "Hmm. Nice. I think I could get used to living like this."

Temari crossed her arms and glared at the back of his dark head. "Well, don't. Hopefully they'll make their move soon. We'll bust the ring, and then we can return home immediately after. My guess is everything will go down in less than a week."

Withdrawing back into Temari's sitting room, Itachi closed the door behind himself. Turning to face her, he smiled and said, "Just because we're here on a mission doesn't mean we can't also enjoy ourselves. Don't you want to go have a look around?" He motioned toward the window across the room and, beyond it, the beautiful vista spread as far as the eye could see.

Uncrossing her arms, Temari moved to the window and looked out. The colors of the grass, the trees, the flowers, all looked brighter compared to the usual dull browns, reds, and blacks in her own home village. The last remnant of the highly curious girl she'd once been, a long time ago, which still hid inside her saw this place as a kind of wonderland. She _did_ long to go out and explore and enjoy it, but the practical side of her knew they needed to get busy finalizing their plans and then putting them into motion.

They were here for a mission, not a vacation. Business, not pleasure. And considering what had happened the last time she'd been on an undercover mission, it was best she keep that fact front and center of her mind.

Itachi came up behind her, hovering just outside her personal space. She tensed, but he didn't touch her, though his words wrapped around her as palpably as his arms would have. "Come on, Temari," he said softly. "When was the last time you let yourself relax and enjoy something?"

Without turning her head, Temari replied instantly by turning his question back on him. "When was the last time you did?"

Silence filled the air between them for a long moment. Just when Temari began to think he wasn't planning on responding, he spoke. "When I was eighteen." The words were soft and oddly vulnerable.

Hating the fact she felt badly for having snapped back at him, she asked, "And how long ago was that?"

Another long silence, and then, equally softly, "Five years."

Temari's eyes slammed shut. Her arms lifted to wrap around her torso in attempt to hold in the sudden, terrifying shakiness invading her body. Her answer to his question was the same. It had been five years since that horrible mission, years she'd spent working on building up walls of defense around her heart, her mind, her emotions. She couldn't relax, couldn't let herself enjoy anything. Not only did she not deserve to do so, the risks she took letting herself open up, even a little, were not worth the price she knew she would ultimately pay.

Turning from the window, Temari pushed past Itachi and determinedly strode toward the door. "I suppose we do need to let ourselves be seen out in the village," she said. Thankfully, her voice didn't shake, though the tremors deep in her core hadn't lessened an iota since Itachi had spoken. "The sooner we do, the sooner we can make the roads between villages - and the Land of Gems itself - safer." She opened the door and left the room before Itachi could respond.

She knew with absolute certainty she didn't want to hear what he would have said.

* * *

Despite their earlier exchange, Itachi noticed Temari had no trouble throwing herself completely into her role in public. She laughed, flirted, and shopped like she'd turned into an entirely different person - one the complete opposite of herself. If he didn't know better, he would have thought she really was a spoiled, rich airhead.

Itachi committed himself just as fully to his own masquerade. He pretended he was nothing more than a doting, adoring husband, catering to Temari's every carefully adopted whim as if she were the center of his universe and there was nothing more important in life than pleasing her.

Thankfully, Temari wasn't the type of person to take advantage.

He'd been on a handful of undercover missions during his career as a ninja, but none of them had included pretending to be married. He'd been far too young before his career in Konoha had ended with his clan's massacre. Ironic that for it he was paired with a woman who'd made it abundantly clear she hated his very guts.

Leaning his face close to Temari's, he murmured a few observations in her ear camouflaged as sweet nothings as he glanced around the people and booths around them. He never allowed his gaze to remain in one place for long, but his highly sharpened senses allowed him to observe and catalogue information without looking like he was paying too much attention to anything other than his bride. People from all walks of life surrounded them, brought together by the group of stalls at the very center of the village. He wondered how many of them, like him and Temari, were also wearing masks - pretending to be someone they weren't.

As they shopped and browsed, he sensed she found it as equally difficult as he did to pretend money was no object, even though as a Sabaku, Temari was one of the richest people in Suna. The Uchiha clan had been very well off in its own right; but everything had gone to Sasuke after the massacre, which was fine with Itachi. He'd received some money from Lady Tsunade before he left, and that plus what he earned as a Suna ninja kept him comfortably, especially since he didn't have to pay room and board. One of the things he'd discovered about Temari on previous missions was that she was very frugal by nature. Spending so much money on basically frivolous things, even for the sake of the mission, bothered them both.

The pair dined in a lavish restaurant, making sure they were seated by the window so they could be seen. Temari, dressed in the finest silk and dripping with jewels, played her role perfectly. Though he knew she felt uncomfortable as Kayo, she flawlessly pretended to enjoy her status. She ordered the most expensive thing on the menu; often reached up to touch her earrings, or necklace, or the sleeve of her dress; and spoke enthusiastically of all the purchases they'd made that day, as well as fictitious ones made in the past, and ones she intended to make in the future.

Itachi found his role, in comparison, much easier to play. The file Gaara had given him painted Hanbei as a man easy to get along with, laid back and comfortable with his lot in life. Though not as flamboyant as his wife, he, too, wore fine clothes, and the elaborate wedding band on his left ring finger proved he considered money something to be spent, lavishly even if not necessarily often. The hardest part of Hanbei to portray, he felt, was the obvious adoration he had for his wife, who loved his title and riches more than him. Though he greatly admired Temari, both as a woman and a kunoichi, he didn't hold any particular romantic notions toward her. It was surprisingly hard to act like he did.

After the meal, they strolled their way back through the marketplace before returning to their rented house. Though darkness had already settled in the sky, the servants still bustled with activity, rushing about to make sure Itachi and Temari would have a comfortable and satisfactory first night in the house. After lingering over tea in one of the downstairs sitting rooms, the undercover couple retired to their suites.

When Itachi entered his suite he discovered Soichiro waiting for him. The stocky, sandy-haired ninja promptly went about his assumed duties as valet, all the while offering an update on what he had learned about the household while Itachi and Temari had been out making their presence felt. "The staff of the house is massive. They take shifts, day and night, so there is always someone on duty to cover every eventuality. Except for the kitchen staff, they also rotate jobs, so no one does the same thing for so long they get burned out."

Itachi absently rubbed the unfamiliar ring on his hand as he watched Soichiro go about hanging the newly discarded garments in the closet with all the other clothes he'd been given for the assignment. "Impressive. Have you had a chance to ask about the general comings and goings in relation to the village?"

With an expert flick of his wrists, Soichiro straightened a vest as he shook his head. "Not really. Everyone in the house naturally gets time off, usually on a fixed schedule. Matsuri and I were both told to take time off the way we usually do at home, since we aren't technically a part of the resident staff." He frowned, pausing with the vest halfway on its hanger. "To be honest, sir, I'm not sure how deeply Matsuri and I will be able to dive into things here. I get the feeling the servants around here are all very - clique-ish."

"That could be because they're used to people coming and going all year long, not staying for any significant amount of time. Perhaps they find easier that way, rather than forming friendships, or other attachments, that have no chance of achieving permanence." It seemed logical, but Itachi knew to look at the situation from several angles. Even the simplest things could hold deeper, more sinister meanings. He'd learned _that_ early on in his career.

"Perhaps." Soichiro sounded doubtful as well. "Regardless, we'll both continue to work at it." He paused to close the closet door, then turned to face Itachi fully before speaking again. "Then again, this is only the first day. Hopefully as time progresses, we'll be able to work our way in deeper and build a rapport with more of the staff."

"Very good." Itachi gave Soichiro a brief rundown on what had happened in the marketplace and at dinner, though there really wasn't anything important to note. He knew Temari was doing the same thing with Matsuri next door, and he understood how important it was for all four of them to keep strict track of things just in case something which seemed unimportant at the time turned out to be critical later. After he finished, Itachi picked up the glass of water Soichiro had set on a corner table while he was talking and said, "Do you think anyone in the staff is involved in the ring?" The thought had occurred to him earlier, especially after he found out the sheer number of servants.

"The thought had occurred to me, as well. With a staff this large, it wouldn't be difficult to hide such criminal behavior - keeping track of everyone, at every time of the day and night, is next to impossible, especially with the duty rotations. But it would be a clever setup, wouldn't it? If there were servants placed in certain houses, close to people..." Soichiro trailed off.

Itachi nodded. "Especially since not all the robberies have happened on the way _to_ a destination, but _from_, as well. Scoping out targets is very important in their line of work - something, I'm sorry to say, they have in common with us." The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. They'd have to keep as close an eye on the staff as they could, though it seemed almost unfair to see them as guilty until proven innocent.

He knew that feeling well, and hated imposing it upon others. But it was all part of being a ninja, and he'd determined long ago to be the best he could possibly be.

Soichiro headed toward the door, then paused next to it. "If there is nothing else required this evening, sir?" Standing there with that aloof expression on his face, he looked every inch the valet he was pretending to be. Itachi couldn't help but admire the man's acting ability as he shook his head and dismissed him with a parting, "Just keep an eye out."

Tugging the band out of his hair, Itachi ran his hand through the tangles and cast his eye on the door leading between his bedroom and Temari's. He'd noticed her quick glance at the lock earlier, when Sara's back had been turned, and knew without a doubt if he tried to open the door it would not yield. It saddened him, how little trust she had in him, particularly since they'd proven they could work well together. He wondered if he'd done anything to make Temari think he would behave in anything less than gentlemanly or at the very least professional manner toward her, but came up empty.

After climbing into the large, comfortable bed across the room from the door, Itachi reached out and turned off the bedside lamp. As darkness settled over the room, he closed his eyes. Sara had mentioned something about ringing for a private breakfast, if they so desired, and he decided doing so would give him and Temari a good opportunity to compare notes.

Despite the exhaustion brought on by a long day preceded by a near-week's worth of nearly nonstop travel, it took Itachi a long time to fall asleep. As he wandered into the twilight between wakefulness and deep sleep, he was surprised to realize why:

Even though Fugaku and Mikoto, his parents, had been spearheading a revolt which would have put the entire village of Konoha at risk, they had seemed truly happy together. This undercover mission with Temari led him to thinking about what it would be like to have a spouse, particularly one with whom he could be so happy. It was not something he'd thought about before, and now that he had, he realized how bleak his prospects were.

Rolling onto his side and pulling his pillow over his head, Itachi squeezed his eyes tightly shut as he tried to block out the voice whispering deep within his soul that, even if he did find that one special woman with whom he could share his heart and life, he didn't deserve her. Temari had hinted at dark things in her past, but he knew they could not be nearly as dark or bloody as his own.

No. He would spend his life alone, a ninja committed fully to serving Suna and her people. And, indirectly, Konoha and hers - one in particular. It would be enough.

It had to be.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ I've been looking forward to starting this story arc for a while now, because a _lot_ of exciting things get to happen, so I'm excited to be able to offer you the setup now! Itachi and Temari have been excited, too, and their nattering away in my head makes it very easy for me to write these chapters - the words just flow out, so fast it's hard for me to keep up sometimes. So you can except some pretty long chapters coming up! Thank you all for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope to see you again for the next update!


	10. Gift Horse

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _HaibaraAiFan_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _rao hyuga 18_, _McKazekage_, _Halestrom_, and _greetingsfrommaars_ for all your fabulous reviews! I always get so excited when I see a new alert in my inbox. And also thanks to those who have added this story to their favorites and follows - you all do so much to keep me encouraged, too!

**Author's Note:** I'm _so_ excited about this chapter - and about this whole story arc, really - I have no words to describe! This is a _huge_ turning point in the story (and in Itachi and Temari's relationship), and I can't wait to share everything with all of you! I hope you enjoy this chapter (and I apologize for it's late appearance!), and thank you so much for reading!

* * *

***~Chapter IX~***

_~Gift Horse~_

* * *

Temari fought back the almost overwhelming urge to yawn as she and Kazedansu plodded along at a walk alongside several other women vacationing in the Land of Gems. Both she _and_ her mare would much rather be out galloping, but that wouldn't help the mission any.

"My husband said I have to stay away from the marketplace for two days." Juuri's lower lip, painted bright red, stuck out far enough for Temari to hang a jacket on. "He says I've already spent more in three days than I do at home in a week. I don't think I believe him, though." She tossed her head, making her inky black curls bounce over her shoulders and around her face.

Kazedansu's derisive snort - a comment on the pace they were going - perfectly portrayed Temari's feelings on the matter of shopping in general, and overshopping in particular. She rolled her lips together to keep from laughing.

"The Land of Gems has more than just shopping, you know." The irritated comment came from Rima, riding on Temari's right. The honey-haired woman had been silent until just then, content with the quiet - just like Temari. "There's horseback riding through the fields, swimming in the lake, or even just relaxing on the back verandah with a book."

Kanae leaned around Juuri, her dark eyes alight with humor. "I, personally, am glad I found you three," she said. "My husband wanted to come here for New Year's because he's got family nearby." She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "As I don't particularly get along with my in-laws, I desperately hoped I could find a like-minded group of women to spend most of my time with."

Temari figured two out of three wasn't bad, although Juuri seemed far more interested in complaining than actually adding anything interesting or constructive to the conversation. Temari had managed to make the acquaintances of the three richest women vacationing here, with her "Kayo" rounding out the group. If anyone was going to be robbed, it would be this group; she was certain of it. Aloud she commented, "Hanbei doesn't have family in the area, but a friend of his vacationed here last New Year's, and he recommended it. So here we are for our honeymoon."

Juuri let out a sigh. "I saw your Hanbei last night at the parade," she said. "He's _so_ handsome! You're so lucky, Kayo."

Despite her personal thoughts on the matter, Temari allowed a small, secretive smile to curl her lips. "He _is_ that," she agreed. "And I must admit, he treats me like a queen. Though our marriage was arranged, we've definitely made the best of it." Perhaps she'd missed her real calling when she became a ninja. She should've become an actress instead.

She and Itachi had been in the Land of Gems for only three days, but they'd both already made a lot of headway. Itachi had ingratiated himself with the husbands of the women with whom she was riding, and she hoped he was having as much luck as she at being noticed.

Rima stood up in her stirrups and squinted ahead at a flat expanse of field stretching out not too far ahead of them. "Anyone up for a race?" she asked, ice blue eyes sparkling with challenge.

Temari and Kanae agreed immediately; Juuri, however, reined in her horse and shook her head. "No thank you. I'll stay over here and watch you three, then let you know who won."

For the first time since Temari realized her and Itachi's mission would keep her from taking part in the Founder's Festival race this year (on reflection, she decided her brother probably planned it deliberately, since he had a new horse and didn't want to take the chance his big sister would beat him _again_), she felt excited. She might not get to race against Suna's best, but at this point, _any_ sort of race would do.

The trio of racers lined up at the edge of the field, holding their prancing mounts in check until Juuri shouted, "Go!" Kanae surged into an early lead, her bay mare pulling ahead by several lengths as Temari and Rima raced neck-and-neck behind her.

With the wind whistling past her ears and through her hair, and her powerful mount straining beneath her, Temari felt _free_. She laughed at the sensation, crouching further over Kazedansu's shoulders as she coaxed even more speed out of her mount. The mare had slowed down a bit as she grew older, but even at that she still held her place as one of the fastest horses in Suna - and, now, in the Land of Gems.

Kanae shot a quick glance over her shoulder, looking surprised to see Temari and Rima splitting to go around her on either side. Jerking her head around, the dark-haired woman tried to urge more speed out of her bay.

The field was nowhere near as long as the track ringing the circumference of Suna. Since Kazedansu had trained for a longer track, three times around, she had no trouble racing past Kanae's horse, then Rima's, to take the win at the other end of the field. Neither Temari nor her mare were even winded as they dropped to a walk and turned to ride back toward Juuri.

"You didn't even make it hard to call!" Juuri accused, laughing, as the four women met up again in the middle of the field. "Kayo won it easily, and Rima nosed Kanae out for second."

"That's some mare," Rima said admiringly, eyeing Kazedansu. "Do you race often?"

"Hanbei and I have been known to do a few laps," Temari replied modestly. _Granted, it was only once, and we only did one lap._ Feeling badly about fudging, she continued, "I have a younger brother-" not the whole truth, but enough of it she didn't feel guilty "-and we've raced each other a few times."

"Who won more often?" Juuri wondered aloud.

"We're split pretty much evenly." Also true, in the grand scheme, though he had yet to beat her with Kaen.

"Sounds fun," Kanae said wistfully. "I could never get any of my brothers or sisters to race with me. My husband tolerates horses, but doesn't particularly _like_ them, so he doesn't really race."

Rima leaned her arms on the pommel of her saddle and smiled. "Senri and I race all the time. We're both wildly competitive, so we've had more ties than wins, really." She shook her head so her hair fell back away from her face, then continued, "Senri actually just bought a new horse, and he's looking to sell his other one. Big black stallion, fairly even-tempered, and fast. If any of you know of anyone looking for a new horse, please send them our way."

An idea - completely crazy, but good nonetheless, at least in her humble opinion - exploded in her mind like fireworks: bright, colorful, irresistable. "Hanbei is looking for a new horse," she said. "His birthday is coming up-" actually, she had no idea if that was true, at least of Itachi, but it sounded good "-and I've been thinking about getting him a new horse. Mind if I ride over some time and take a look?"

Straightening in her saddle, Rima tightened her grip on her reins and offered, "You can come now, if you like. Do you ladies mind?"

Juuri glanced at Kanae. "We might just keep on riding...?" At the other brunette's nod, she turned back to Temari and Rima. "See you both tomorrow for the early New Year's party at my estate?"

After agreeing, the women went their separate ways. Temari kept her eyes open for anything suspicious as she followed Rima to the house she and Senri had rented for the holiday. Though smaller than the one Temari and Itachi were staying in, it still looked quite massive in comparison with many of the houses with which the woman from Suna was familiar.

Upon their arrival, a servant informed Temari and Rima Senri was still out. Unbothered, the man's wife led Temari around to the stables. At her request one of the grooms brought out a beautiful black horse, around seventeen hands, who pranced around as if knowing he needed to show off to a potential new owner.

"Senri really loves this horse, but he's a bit too tall for my husband," Rima told Temari as they watched the groom run the big black through his paces at the end of a long lead. "We're looking for a owner who will love him as much as we did. I think you and Hanbei are trustworthy."

Temari leaned against the fence, analyzing the horse the same way she did every time the Sabaku stable looked to invest in a new mount. His strides were free and easy, with no sign that he favored a leg or limped. Occasionally he tossed his head - not in rebellion, but in demonstration of the spirit which glowed in his eyes. His mane and tail flagged out behind him, flowing and shiny with health.

"He's beautiful," Temari said softly as the groom slowed the stallion back down to a walk.

"That he is," Rima agreed. "Would you like to ride him? I can have the groom saddle him."

The idea tempted her, but Temari finally shook her head. "No, I don't believe so. I can tell just by watching he's healthy, and I really do believe Hanbei will like him." The more she thought about it, the more sure she felt her idea was a good one - the right one. It seemed all the more fortuitous since she'd brought some of her own money with her, just in case she had to drop her Kayo facade for some reason and become Temari again for a while. "How much?"

Rima instantly named a figure, and Temari's few remaining doubts vanished. She could buy the horse and still have plenty left over, just in case.

And with this horse, Itachi could _really_ be a challenge on the race course. He couldn't have a go until next year, of course, but the pair would need time to train. She had to bite back a smile at the thought.

As the two women bickered a bit over the price, Temari also thought of what an asset the horse would be on a mission. Granted, she'd only seen him gallop at the end of a rope, but she sensed he would really show his speed if given a chance. Kobiyashi, Itachi's usual mount, was fast, but not nearly a match for the usual standard of a Sabaku mount. Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara looked for speed, agility, and intelligence in their horses; she sensed this black had all three.

After Temari handed over the agreed upon amount, she remounted Kazedansu and accepted the black stallion's lead. Though he shifted his weight a little, indicating his impatience to get moving, he didn't try to bully Kazedansu - who wouldn't have taken it, anyway - or start off without her. Admiring the horse out of the corner of her eye, she addressed Rima. "Does he have a name?"

Rima shaded her blue eyes with one hand and looked up at Temari. "Senri named him Mayonaka," she said. "Not very original, but he is as black as midnight. But I'm sure if your husband wants to rename him, he'll learn to respond to a different name."

_Mayonaka_, Temari mused to herself. _I like it._ "Thank you, Rima. I'm sure Hanbei is going to love this horse."

As she rode back toward her temporary home, she determined if Itachi didn't like him, or want him, she'd take him. After all, it was nearly time for Kazedansu to retire, and it would be a crime to let such a good piece of horseflesh go to waste!

* * *

To Temari's relief, Itachi had not yet returned when she got back to their rented mansion. Handing over Kazedansu and Mayonaka to a groom - with stern orders to keep the new horse's presence a secret - she plotted a good way to spring the surprise on Itachi. She felt confident he would _like_ the horse. Yet at the same time, the feeling niggled at her that his foolish, stubborn male pride might keep him from accepting the gift. She needed to come up with the perfect thing to do or say to make sure he kept Mayonaka - and gladly.

Matsuri didn't have any helpful advice on the subject before leaving to go into the market with some of the other women for supplies. Her sometimes lady's maid had seen a good opportunity to mingle with some of the regular staff, saying she got a normal half-day off at the time.

"Excellent thinking." Temari sat still, forcing herself to keep a straight face as her small dark-haired maid tugged and twisted her wavy blonde locks into some semblance of a bun. The humidity wreaked such havoc on her hair, she felt sorry for Matsuri's having to try to tame it. "I didn't learn too terribly much from Rima, Kanae, and Juuri. But all three are having parties at their houses over the course of the next few days - Juuri's being the first, then Kanae, then Rima - which means the houses of the other two - well, three, including me - will be relatively empty and easy pickings for the thieves. The question is, on which night will they choose to strike?"

Scraping pins against Temari's scalp in an attempt to confine her hair- "Sorry, milady" -Matsuri hummed thoughtfully. "Which of the three - four, including you - is richest, do you think?"

"In actuality? Probably Kanae and her husband, though to hear Juuri tell it, it's her and hers. To all outside appearances, however, I'd have to say Itachi and myself. What are you thinking, Matsuri?"

Securing the last pin, Matsuri stepped back with a bow. "If I were the thieves, I would wait until the three richest couples were visiting the least, then make my move. Perhaps I would miss out on a large haul, but I would think what I would gain from the three robbed houses would more than make up for it. Not to mention the fact they'll probably be stealing from the houses of the other people attending the party."

Temari got to her feet and began to pace, nodding every few steps. "Yes," she murmured. "To carry something like that off, however, they'd have to move fast, and have a massive group broken up into smaller groups to clean out all those houses." She frowned. "I know we don't know their exact numbers, but could it be possible the total is _that_ large?"

"Plus each of the houses will undoubtly have at least a partial staff inside at the time," Matsuri said. "Not everyone likes to give the staff the evening off when they go out to party."

Thinking back to the conversation she and Itachi had shared over breakfast the morning after they arrived, Temari paused next to the window to look out over the grounds. In the gardens, she could see the bobbing heads of the groundskeeper and his staff at work planting, pruning, and grooming. Over by the stables, two of the grooms were working to hose down Kazedansu, who flicked her tail and occasionally turned her face toward the water, mouth open to catch a few droplets. The place hummed with activity day and night, with various members of the staff on duty at all hours. She knew several other of the houses had similar setups.

"There must be at least a few members of the ring placed within each of the houses," Temari murmured, half to herself, half to Matsuri. "Otherwise, I just don't see how they could possibly pull it off." She and Itachi had both also agreed they had a feeling the ring was prepping for one massive, final job before they picked up and left. She wasn't sure if they would retire with their ill-gotten gains, or if they'd move on to somewhere else, but either way, they needed to be stopped here and now. On that they both agreed.

"Even at that, there's no guarantee the group's accomplices would be on duty at the time," Matsuri said. "They would have to be careful not to let their employers - whomever is renting the house at the time - grow suspicious. If they got too pushy about being on duty at a certain time, particularly if there are several of them, it could blow their cover. And we already feel certain they know we're closing in on them, which is why we feel positive this is going to happen."

"They're going to make a mistake, somehow," Temari said decisively. "There's no way they can pull off a job this massive and _not_ slip up. We'll just have to be sure to be there when they do." She drummed her fingers against the wall next to the window, her eyes catching on the movement of a groom leading Kobiyashi toward the stable. _Itachi's back._ A flutter of excitement rose in her stomach at the thought of presenting him with Mayonaka. She'd have to do it soon.

"There's just one problem," Matsuri murmured, coming to the window and following her mistress's gaze. "How can you and Master Itachi be in two places at once?"

And _that_ was the major roadblock giving Temari fits. Matsuri looked nothing like Temari, and Soichiro would just as certainly never pass as Itachi, even from a distance. She mentally reivewed the list of Suna ninja who had accompanied them to the Land of Gems, but none of them were right, either. No matter how she looked at it, she and Itachi _had_ to make their appearance at whichever party they felt would be the correct distraction for the thieves. At the same time, however, they had to be ready to lead their fellow Suna ninja in the capture of the thieves.

Her head spun and throbbed. Lifting a hand to her forehead, she rubbed at the most painful spot, scowling at her thoughts, circling round and round like a bunch of buzzards waiting for their prey to die.

_How morbid._ Turning abruptly from the window, she waved her hand at Matsuri. "That's all for now," she said, trying hard to keep from snapping at the girl. "I need some time alone to think." Or, perhaps, she needed some quiet to _keep_ from thinking. She'd been turning the problem over and over in her mind so much, she sensed she just needed to take a break and come at it from a new, fresh direction. She just knew she was missing something so _important_...

Matsuri bowed herself out. Temari tumbled onto her bed, lying sprawled on her back so she could stare up at the gauzy canopy above her. She closed her eyes, finding some relief for her throbbing temples in the darkness behind her lids. _Just relax_, she told herself. _Start at your toes, and concentrate on relaxing each one individually, progressing all the way up to your head..._

She must have dozed off, because a knock on the door leading from her sitting room to Itachi's woke her a little while later. Temari jolted upright, glad the motion didn't make her dizzy or increase the pain in her head, which had gentled into an ache instead of a throbbing drumbeat. "I'm coming!" she called irritably when the knock repeated itself, slightly louder.

Itachi looked concerned when she opened the door. "Are you all right?" He moved past her into the room when she stepped back to allow him entrance. "I knocked several times before you finally answered."

Wondering how badly she'd messed up Matsuri's painfully inflicted hairdo, Temari self-consciously patted at it, relieved when she found it was still secure. "I was asleep," she admitted. "I had a bit of a headache, but I'm better now. Did you find out anything important during your time with the boys?"

Arching one eyebrow at her term, Itachi settled down onto one of the cushions at the table in the center of the room after she curled up on the other. "Not much, unfortunately. I learned Yukahito likes shougi, Senri horse racing, and Hiro _dis_likes his wife's proclivity for shopping. But I didn't learn one single thing which would help us figure out who's the best target for the thieves."

"I've got some theories about that, but we'll discuss those later." At Itachi's startled look, she smiled mockingly. "What? Weren't you the one who said we need to take some time off and enjoy ourselves? I'm thinking we've almost burned ourselves out, we've thought about this so long and so hard. We should take the afternoon off, concentrate on something else, then come back this evening with a fresh outlook. We'll get more done that way."

"It makes me feel like I'm studying for finals at the Academy again," Itachi muttered with a half-smile. "But all right. What do you propose we do to while away the afternoon, then?"

Swallowing back her excitement, Temari rose gracefully and headed toward the door. "I've got a surprise for you," she said. "Follow me." She held her breath, waiting until she heard Itachi's footsteps behind her before she opened the door and left the room.

At the bottom of the staircase, Temari stopped a passing servant and whispered in her ear. With a secretive grin, the girl hurried away to fulfill her assignment, leaving Temari free to loop her arm through Itachi's as she told him, "Close your eyes."

Itachi gave her an odd look, but obeyed. "Where are we going?" he asked as she led him out the front door and down three steps to the stone path winding down through waist-high rosebushes to the driveway. "And you're not going to let me run into or trip over anything, right?"

"Oh, I might let you get pricked by a rose thorn or two, but I promise you won't get any permanent damage." Laughing at Itachi's groan, she guided him down the roomy path, then stopped when they reached the end. "I promise it'll be just another minute. We just have to wait here while it's brought to us."

"You're really enjoying have all the servants at your beck and call, aren't you?" A note of teasing took the sting out of Itachi's words as he chuckled. "What is this surprise, anyway? Did you arrange for today's New Year's parade to make a detour through our driveway?"

"_No_," Temari retorted. "Just be patient, will you?" She caught the glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see the groom she'd spoken with earlier leading Mayonaka toward them, the stallion's hoofbeats muffled by the tightly packed dirt of the drive. "Just another few moments..."

Itachi's arm tensed against her own. "Sounds like a horse," he murmured. "Are we having a guest for dinner?" His curiosity sounded strongly in his tone.

The groom halted Mayonaka before Temari and Itachi and bowed, though the movement didn't hide the wide grin on his lips. Sliding her hand down Itachi's arm until she could take his hand, she led him over to the horse before dropping it and taking a step back. The groom handed her the stallion's lead, then hurried away so the couple could have privacy for the reveal. "All right," she said, butterflies doing anxious acrobatics in her stomach. _Why am I so nervous? It's not like this gift _means_ anything. I'm just giving him a horse he can _actually_ challenge me with. Not a big deal at all._ "Open your eyes."

Those dark eyes, the same color as Mayonaka's coat, slowly opened. Itachi blinked a few times to adjust to the bright sunlight, then stared in wide-eyed, openmouthed astonishment at the stallion standing before him. "He's - for _me_?"

Temari felt a little of the anxiety in her chest ease, making it much less difficult to grin. "Yes!" She tilted her head against the stallion's neck, watching as Itachi reached up a hand to rub the big black's velvety nose. "I wanted you to have a horse that would _actually_ make you a challenge to me and Kazedansu," she said with a wave of her free hand. "Rima told me today her husband was looking to sell Mayonaka, and I knew as soon as I saw him he was the perfect horse for you."

Itachi tore his gaze away from the horse to look at Temari, conflict in his eyes. He looked back at Mayonaka, then drew a deep breath as he took a step back and looked away. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I cannot accept this horse. It's too much."

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't you like him, _Hanbei_?" she hissed, intending to remind him of where - of _who_ - they were.

A spark flared deep in Itachi's fathomless black eyes. "I _do_," he replied, not raising his voice. "That's not it at all. But I know this gift is not from Kayo to Hanbei, and even if it were, _I_ cannot accept it." He made the single word heavy with inflection, knowing she would understand.

Temari's hand tightened instinctively on the lead; Mayonaka shook his head, sensing her growing irritation. Forcing herself to calm, she gently stroked the beautiful black's cheek and murmured soothingly to him. When he settled again, she turned back to Itachi. "Is there _anything_ I can do to get you to accept him?" she asked. "But be forewarned - one way or the other, I'm determined this horse is going to be yours whether you want him or not."

Reaching up to stroke Mayonaka's nose again, Itachi studied the horse for a long moment, then turned back to Temari. "You're willing to do _anything_?" he asked intently.

Feeling uneasy under his intense regard, Temari shifted her weight and tossed her head, pretending she neither cared nor felt nervous. "If it means you'll accept Mayonaka." Had she underestimated Itachi? Would he _really_ ask something impossible of her?

Sliding his hand down the lead until it met hers, Itachi forced her to meet his eyes before he smiled. "Go change into some lighter, less fancy clothes," he said. "Then meet me by the lake in twenty minutes - we'll need some privacy for what I have in mind."

Temari felt her stomach twist, whether at his words or at the feeling of his hand gently enclosing hers, she didn't know.

"It's all right," he murmured, smiling at what she knew must be her panicked expression. "I promise." Running the side of his free hand's index finger down her cheek, Itachi smoothly pulled the lead from her hand. "Thank you for Mayonaka," he said as he led the stallion away. "I promise you won't regret giving him to me." He vanished around the side of the house.

Left standing in the middle of the driveway, Temari wrapped her trembling arms around her torso, wondering what in the world she'd just gotten herself into.

Whatever it was, she had a feeling she would not like it. Not in the least.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ Typically I don't cross over characters from one of the manga in which I'm interested to another in fics I write. But in this case, I tried but just _couldn't_ resist. Some of you may have recognized Senri and Rima from _Vampire Knight_, and I wanted to work them in as a tip of a hat since they're my fave couple from the series, which just recently ended. (Though they're most definitely entirely human here.) This is one of my favorite chapters so far, for multiple reasons, and the next two follow suit in a _big_ way - I'm _so_ excited! Thank you for reading, and for your patience waiting for this slightly late update. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you again for the next chapter (which I will _try_ to get up earlier)!


	11. Trust

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**WARNING:** In this chapter a large part of Temari's past is revealed, i.e. the cause of her nightmares and why she got drunk. I just wanted to let you all know that it gets kind of intense, so I wanted to warn my more sensitive readers ahead of time. I _really_ don't want to give you all nightmares, or be the cause of panic attacks or anything. I mean, it's _really intense._ There were a couple times writing it where I just had to walk away and catch my breath, so - yeah. I wanted to post a warning ahead of time.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _McKazekage_, _rao hyuga 18_, _Guest_, _milk-weed_, _Halestrom_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _Singofsolace_, and _greetingsfrommaars_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who's added this story to their favorites and follows - your encouragement means so much to me, thank you!

**Author's Note:** Okay, I'll admit it. I got so excited, I just couldn't force myself to wait the usual week or so to update again. This is a _huge_ chapter, not just in size, but in revealing why Temari is the way she is, and the start of her changing into the character we see in _Shadows_. Again - I really hope I don't give anyone nightmares or anything with this chapter... But thank you so much for reading, and I _really_ hope you enjoy!

* * *

***~Chapter X~***

_~Trust~_

* * *

"You want me to do _what_?!"

Itachi sighed and closed his eyes, just barely resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Although knowing this wouldn't be easy going in, he'd rather hoped Temari _wouldn't_ react quite so loudly. Or vehemently. Or stare at him with that furious, betrayed look on her face.

"I'm not just going to throw you in," Itachi said patiently. He refrained from stepping closer to Temari, but he didn't move away, either. After all, she _had_ promised to do "anything" so he'd accept Mayonaka. "Don't _worry_. I'm not going to let it hurt you."

Temari's expression made it clear she didn't believe a single word he said. Her anxious gaze darted from his face, to the lake, and back. "Were you not listening when I told you I _hate_ water?"

Crossing his arms, Itachi followed her gaze, admiring the glassy surface of the water. "There are no waves. It's a warm day with no wind, and very little breeze. The water's gentle. I'll be right with you every step of the way and I promise, I won't let you drown. I won't even let you come _close_ to drowning. We'll take it slowly, with frequent breaks." He didn't like the idea of Temari not knowing how to swim. Even if she hated it, he wanted her to know, just in case she got into trouble and he - or someone else - wasn't around to help her.

"I've managed to make it this far into my life without knowing how to swim," Temari said. "I don't see why I should have to start now."

"You're fortunate you've made it this far," Itachi said. This time he did take a step closer to her, relieved when she didn't try to move away. "We get sent on missions to places with water all the time. It's a miracle nothing's happened yet. You at least need to know the basics of how to swim, even if you're not proficient, so if something _does_ happen, you won't be in danger of immediately drowning."

The corners of Temari's mouth tightened. For a long moment Itachi thought for sure she meant to continue fighting him. Instead she sighed, head and shoulders drooping pitifully as she nodded reluctantly. "All right. You win." She transferred her gaze to the water, staring at it as if she expected it to jump out, grab her, and drag her down of its own accord.

At least Itachi had known from the beginning this wasn't going to be easy, and possessed enough wisdom not to give any hint of the triumph he felt over getting her to agree. "Here," he said, holding out his hand. "Take my hand. Like I said, we'll go slowly, just a step at a time, as you acclimate yourself to the feel of the water."

Temari eyed the appendage for a long couple of minutes, looking like she'd much rather bite it than take hold of it. But finally she placed her hand in his, her expression more like a prisoner being led to the gallows than someone getting a simple swimming lesson.

_Yeesh._ Curling his fingers reassuringly around Temari's, Itachi led her down to the edge of the water, where they both slipped out of their shoes. He'd put on a pair of cropped pants in expectation of carrying out his plan. Temari, however, wore a pair of lounging pants, long and flowing. He briefly wondered how heavy they would be once they got wet. Regardless, he doubted they'd be going in deeply enough today to make a difference. And even if they did, he'd keep a good grip on her to make sure she didn't slip under or away from him.

They took their first step in tandem, going in ankle-deep at first, allowing the water to lap curiously around their feet as they stood there. Temari tightened her grip convulsively on his hand, her face pale almost to transparency, her eyes so wide he wondered if she'd ever blink again.

"It's all right. I've got you." Itachi felt almost ridiculous saying so, particularly since her fisted free hand kept rising away from her side in his direction, as if she were thinking about punching his lights out. "We'll stay right here until you're ready to take the next step forward."

It took almost ten minutes, but at last Temari gave a tiny nod. Itachi shortened his stride and stepped forward one step and then another, pausing as his companion followed. She bobbled slightly, off-balance, but regained her equilibrium quickly. The water, still calm and smooth and quite comfortably tepid, now caressed their legs halfway up their calves. He watched Temari watch it suspiciously, her lips pressed together so tightly her mouth nearly vanished, and almost felt badly for forcing her into this situation; but he knew how important it was for her to be able to get herself to shore if necessary, or at least stay afloat until help could reach her. When after just five minutes this time they took another step - now in up to their knees - Itachi praised her, telling her he knew she'd conquer the water quickly.

Temari looked much less confident. "How much longer until we can go back to dry land?" she whispered shakily, still not looking away from the water.

Itachi glanced over his shoulder. "We can go now, if you want." Although he'd hoped to go at least to waist-depth, he didn't want to push her _too_ far either, especially on her first day. "Do you want to do that?" He shifted more in front of her and reached for her opposite hand.

"Wait!" Temari tightened her grip on his hand, cutting off what little remained of blood flow to it, her eyes darting away from the water long enough to glance up into his face. He saw a flicker of determination briefly shove back the fear in her eyes before she tilted her head down again. "Let's - just - stand here for a minute."

"All right." Pleased, Itachi settled back to her side, watching as the gentle swells in the water caused by his movement gentled until the surface lay smooth again. "You're doing so well, Temari."

To his surprise, Temari took the initiative this time and took one step, then two, then yet a third forward. Standing in water up to her waist, she relaxed her fist and rested the palm of her hand on the surface, an almost entranced expression supplanting the tension on her face. "It's like silk," she whispered.

"Hn," Itachi agreed, feeling proud. "On a nice warm day like today, with no wind, the water usually does look like glass and feel like silk."

As Temari's death grip on his hand relaxed a little, Itachi glanced back toward the shore. A gentle hill hid them from those up at the house, which was why he'd chosen this particular spot to teach his partner how to get along with the water, if not actually conquer it and swim today. He felt reasonably certain Temari wouldn't have agreed if she knew the entire estate would be able to see her down in the water. He just felt extremely grateful she trusted him enough to follow him into the lake. It briefly occurred to him to wonder what had changed, to make her believe in him enough to do so, but knew he shouldn't ask.

"Do you want to go back?" Itachi eventually offered again.

Temari paused in stroking her free hand over the surface and watching the ripples she created, glancing over her shoulder toward the shore.

"Or do you want to go in deeper?" He didn't think so, but she didn't seem in too big a hurry to turn around and get back to solid ground.

"We'll go back." Her concentration broken, she seemed galvinized into action by Itachi's latter offer. Letting go of his hand, she turned to slosh her way back to the shallows.

"Temari, wait, let me-" He was too late. Evidently one of Temari's feet landed wrong against the somewhat rocky bottom. She twisted at an awkward angle, trying to regain her balance in the unfamiliar medium surrounding her. With a startled and terrified cry, she started to fall.

Itachi lunged forward, ignoring his own shaky foothold in his desperation to get to Temari. He grasped the edge of her loose seafoam green top, then gave a strong yank as he twisted himself, drawing in a sharp breath and holding it as they crashed into the hip-deep water. His back hit the bottom, and he ricocheted. Surging out of the water - still maintaining his white-knuckle grip on Temari's shirt while floundering until he found her waist with his opposite hand - Itachi secured her in a tight grip and hauled them both, gasping and coughing, to shore.

They collapsed on the grass, Itachi keeping his sheltering arms around Temari's violently shuddering form. She clung to him like she thought herself still in the water, fingernails biting through his sodden shirt into his skin; her breathing shallow and rapid, eyes wide and unseeing, pupils tiny, face even whiter than it had been before.

"Temari?" Itachi let go of her waist so he could cup her face in his hands, ducking his head to try to get her to make eye contact with him. "Temari! It's okay, you're out of the water. It's okay."

Water dripped from the ends of her hair and down her face, Itachi sensing more than a few tears fell among the droplets. One of her hands moved from its death grip on his shirt to grasp his arm, but her eyes remained distant and foggy. He knew she saw not the world as it appeared around them now, but as it had been at some point in the past. The rate of her breathing escalated, pushing her toward hyperventilation. Trying to decide how best to snap her out of it, he realized with a start her lips were moving frantically, mouthing words he couldn't hear. He swayed a little closer, placing his ear closer to her mouth to try to discern her words.

"...anything you want to know. Please stop, please, I'll tell you anything...!"

Itachi jerked back, feeling as if someone had impaled him with a flaming hot poker. Pieces rapidly shifted and clicked together in his mind, offering him yet another angle on the story he'd first learned about in Sumi's restaurant the day he arrived in Suna. "Temari!" Curling his hands around her upper arms, he shook her, gently but firmly, desperate to snap her out of her nightmarish memory. "_Temari!_"

She rattled silently in his hands, pale and unresponsive. Hating himself even as he did it, he shook her even harder, not wanting to resort to what one of his instructors at the Academy had told him to do to snap a person out of shock. He did _not_ condone hitting a woman under any circumstance, for any reason. He wouldn't start now.

"Temari, _please_," he begged, voice cracking with a thousand emotions he didn't want to name for fear of increasing the guilt threatening to swamp him. Taking her wet face between his hands, he leaned in until their dripping noses nearly touched. "Temari, come back to me, _please!_"

As if a switch had flipped in her mind, Temari's eyes filled with recognition. Her lips stopped moving, and the desperate rise and fall of her chest eased. "Wh-what happened?" she asked. Her vulnerable eyes flickered from his face, to the water, to their sopping clothes, and back around again.

Itachi shifted his grip back to her arms to pull her into a desperate hug, all but crushing her against his chest. She felt very small and chilled in his arms. "_Thank you_," he breathed fervently, to whomever was listening. Then, "Temari, I am so sorry. So sorry." The apologies kept tumbling out of his mouth, frantic and heartfelt, as in a far-removed corner of his mind he wondered:

What in the world had he inflicted upon Temari in his misguided impulse to help her?

* * *

Images crashed through her mind, cascading one after another until she thought she'd scream. Her pulse pounded in her ears, joined by a distant murmur she dimly recognized, but couldn't name. The world quaked around her, spinning crazily, leaving her terrified to move...

"Temari, _please_."

The words penetrated the seething maelstrom in her mind, bringing with it a blessed wash of silence. Temari blinked; realized she clung to Itachi like a leech, and they were back on the shore of the lake. She found him staring at her as if she'd suddenly turned into a completely different person before his very eyes. Panic lined his face and filled the depths of his black eyes, threatening to suck her in.

"Wh-what happened?" she croaked. She meant the question as much for herself as Itachi. She remembered standing waist-deep in the water, and it lapping gently, almost curiously, at her as it reached through her clothes and gently caressed her skin, calmly, soothingly. She remembered Itachi's hand around hers, warm, solid, dependable. Even though it grated on every single nerve and every vow she'd made to hate him without ceasing, she knew she could trust him. He wouldn't let her drown. He wouldn't even let her fall.

She trusted she was safe in the water, at least as long as she stayed with him. For now, that was enough.

But then... _Water rushing over her, filling her nose and mouth. Was this the time? Was she about to die?_

Her train of thought derailed jarringly as Itachi snatched her to him in a desperate hug. He whispered a heartfelt, "_Thank you_," though to whom she wasn't sure, and then said, "Temari, I am so sorry. So sorry." The words tumbled out of him so fast he nearly stuttered as he repeated his mantra, mumbling the words frantically into her neck.

"Itachi..." She squirmed, uncomfortable at his proximity, at the warmth of his breath on her skin, at the way their wet clothes stuck together... Her claustrophobia, so long repressed, clawed its way into her throat. She planted her hands against his chest and forcibly shoved him away.

He rocked backwards, catching himself on one hand before he fell over. His babbling silenced, he stared at her, ebony eyes flickering from emotion to emotion so fast she couldn't identify even one before it vanished in the wake of the next. "What happened?" he turned the question back on her.

Despite the comfortabe warmth of the day, Temari felt a chill run along her arms and down her spine. She wrapped her arms around herself, knowing there was no way she could worm out of explaining things now. Not when evidently she'd just completely - embarrassingly - gone to pieces in front of Itachi.

She hadn't had a reaction that bad for almost four years. She'd thought she was past all that, but the water...

She should have said no. She should have turned and walked away. Or, even though the idea galled, begged him to ask something else of her. She should have _known_ there was no way she could get that close to water and _not_ pay the consequences.

Pushing strands of her dripping hair away from her eyes, she shook her head. "I'm all right," she said, even though she wasn't. She voiced the words in spite of knowing they didn't answer his question, though she hoped he wouldn't notice. "S-Sorry about that. I'm not usually so clumsy."

Itachi's large, rough, warm hands folded around her upper arms once more. For a moment she thought for sure he was going to shake her again. Instead he stared right into her eyes and shook his head slowly, pointedly. "Being clumsy does not explain what happened after I got you out of the water," he said, voice low and intent.

Swallowing back the urge to slap Itachi's hands away again, Temari turned her head so he wouldn't be able to see her face - or, specifically, her eyes. "I told you," she said softly, "I _hate_ water."

She heard him suck in a sharp breath, aggravation punctuating the sound. "Why were you saying you'd tell me anything, if only I'd stop?"

Temari's heart nearly fluttered to a halt. _Stupid!_ Even though she'd lost it, she didn't think she'd said anything. She thought she had at least _that_ much control over herself. But now, she'd blown it. And since she couldn't seem to do anything halfway, she'd blown it _epically_.

"I can't talk about it." _Please, just drop it and leave it alone._

"Can't, or won't?" Itachi's tone was sharp enough to slice through solid steel.

She flinched. Immediately, his hands loosened around her arms, though he didn't let go entirely. His right hand began to move, smoothing up and down her arm as if to warm her. "Please don't make me talk about it." She scrambled for something else to say, something to _ensure_ he'd drop the subject, preferably never to bring it up again, but at the least for now. "It was just a - momentary - thing. I'm fine now, though. It won't happen again." Of course she couldn't promise that, not with the absolute certainty with which she tried to infuse her words, but she'd work on it.

Oh, and she would also passionately avoid having anything to do with water again, which had certainly helped her keep it from happening until now.

She stole a sideways peek at Itachi, who looked very stern, his expression abruptly reminding her of Gaara when he was in full-on leader-of-the-village mode. _This is all your fault._ She swallowed back the words trying to batter their way past her teeth, somehow knowing putting voice to them would _not_ help her situation. "I'm fine," she whispered again. It didn't sound convincing, even to her.

"Can you promise me _on your oath as a ninja_ that this will never be an issue again on a mission in the future? Or even for this mission?" His tone cautioned her to think over her response _very_ carefully before she gave it.

Her confidence shriveled in the face of his question as easily as her skin had in the water. She knew the answer she wanted to give - the one she always gave the few times she'd been asked that question in the past, mostly by Gaara: a resounding, _Yes!_ But the glaring truth pricked at her conscience. She silently bowed her head and shook it slowly back and forth.

Itachi let out his breath on a long sigh, which stirred her wet bangs across her forehead. "I don't know what happened, though I think I have some idea," he said. "I know I just let you down in a major way in the water, and I'm sorry. But I want to try to make up for that. I want you to trust me, and tell me what happened, and let me _try_ to help you." This time both his hands rubbed up and down her arms, the motion warming, soothing.

The jittery feeling deep in her bones eased a bit at his touch. Her breath shivered out of her, and she felt her resolve to hoard the experience to herself melt away. "All right," she said, defeated. "I'll tell you - after we go back up to the house and change into dry clothes." At least it would give her a short reprieve, and time to think of how to explain things to Itachi in a detached way that would keep her from completely reliving the terror, the _awfulness_, of it all.

He studied her face, as if testing the level of truth in her words. At last he seemed to decide she fully meant what she said, because he nodded decisively before letting her go. "Will you be okay, returning to the house?"

Temari reached out to pick up her shoes, glad to see the violent tremors in her hands had eased to a barely discernable tremble. "I am a ninja," she said as they stood. "That means I am also a good actress." And keeping the staff in the house from figuring out she'd just had a total mental and emotional breakdown at the lake would certainly qualify her for her best performance ever - if she could pull it off.

* * *

Thankfully Matsuri wasn't around to fuss over her. Temari quickly bathed and changed into some dry clothes before settling down in her sitting room with a cup of tea to wait for Itachi. While she sipped, she thought out what she would say, and how to say it. She'd told this story only once before, to Gaara; she'd hoped then that would be the end of it. But she knew Itachi deserved to know the truth, especially since her little brother didn't seem interested in letting either of them get different partners for missions any time soon.

When Itachi finally knocked on the door, Temari didn't even bother to get up to let him in. Instead, she called a tired, "Enter," watching as he cautiously opened it and peered around, as if expecting her to throw some shuriken at him or something.

...Pity she hadn't thought of that.

Once assured no sharp projectiles were headed his direction, Itachi slipped through the door and closed it behind himself. Crossing the room, he lowered himself onto the cushion Temari indicated with a wave of her hand, then accepted the tea cup she handed him.

And then they just sat and stared at each other silently, appraisingly, for a long few moments. Temari didn't want to be the first to speak, and Itachi seemed just as determined to stay quiet for however long it took. Their stalemate stretched, the tension ratcheting up with each passing second.

Finally Itachi released a silent breath, looked down at his teacup and said, "Whenever you're ready, I'll listen."

Oddly gratified Itachi had been the one to break their stalemate, Temari looked down at her own cup, noticing steam had stopped rising from it at some point. Sighing, she shoved the delicate thing away and lifted her gaze again, fixing it on Itachi's chin. No way she could look him in the eyes and tell this story. Not if she expected to get even halfway through it.

"As you know, five years ago I was sent out on a mission that - went _wrong_," she began. She tried to keep her tone factual, the telling itself as impersonal as possible. "I went with two other people - Sumi's husband, Hikaru, and another Suna ninja by the name of Kei. Together, we formed a team pretending to switch allegiances from our home village to Kiri, also known as-"

"Blood Mist Village," Itachi finished for her on a whisper. Suddenly he looked a little sick.

Temari nodded. "Tensions between Kiri and Suna had been running unusually high prior to it. Our mission was to be accepted into the village so we could find out if they were planning some sort of attack against us. If possible, we were to sneak into the head of the village's office and steal scrolls detailing battle plans and tactics, if such things existed."

"But the mission didn't go as planned," Itachi supplied when Temari paused again. He'd abandoned his own cup of tea to sit leaning slightly forward on his cushion. From the top edge of her vision she saw his dark eyes fixed intently on her face. He seemed to be trying to offer her strength and support, both things unexpected but welcome.

"I suppose it is a small, cold comfort to know our mission was doomed from the very beginning." Temari had still been young and idealistic then. She was the daughter of the former leader of the village, and sister of the future. She felt invincible, like every mission on which she was sent could not go wrong. It made her failure that much worse. "Kei was slightly older than both me and Hikaru, though he looked our age. He had been a staunch - albeit silent - supporter of my father's bloody imagined future for our village. When my father was murdered and Gaara announced as our next leader, several in Suna were not happy about it. Kei was smarter than most - outwardly, he pretended to support Gaara and _his_ image of what Suna should be, but behind the scenes, he worked in opposition."

Itachi's expression twisted with understanding, the depths of his eyes reflecting the sorrow she still felt in her own heart. It didn't make her attempt to keep things impersonal any easier, but for some reason knowing he felt that way made it easier to continue with the rest of the story.

"Since Kiri was already what my father had wanted Suna to be, Kei found his desired opportunity. He'd already defected by the time we were sent on the mission, though obviously none of us had any idea of it. He _knew_ why we were there, and it didn't take long at all before he sold Hikaru and me out to the Kiri ninja." She still remembered that night so vividly.

Across the table, Itachi muttered an epithet to which Temari nodded agreement.

"The night everything went wrong, we had planned to sneak into the Kiri leader's office. Of course, the entire _village_ is made up of ninja, and no one pretends otherwise. Everyone crept about in the shadows, but we went even deeper, moving from the barracks in which we'd been assigned to stay to the massive building in the very center of the village. It was raining - nothing new, but it gave us another advantage. Though everyone in Kiri is used to the rain, no one particularly likes being out in it. So we had to avoid fewer people along the way."

Shifting to allow the blood flow back into her right foot, which was falling asleep, Temari rubbed her hands up her arms, trying to chase away the chills racing each other across her skin. "Kei had a whole group waiting for us when we got there. He immediately turned on us, and the fight didn't last long before Hikaru and I were captured." The fight had been short and bloody. Though they'd both done a good bit of damage to the other side, they were horribly outnumbered. And once Hikaru had taken that katana strike to the side...

Her eyelids slammed shut. _Focus. Breathe. You can make it through this, Temari. Itachi needs to hear this. You might not want to do it, but perhaps _you_ need to tell it as much as he needs to know it._

Warm hands enveloped her own, clenched into fists atop the table. Temari's eyes flew open, and she stared at Itachi, who looked back calmly, encouragingly. "It's all right," he said softly. "No matter what happened, I won't hate or think badly of you. I promise."

Though Temari had tensed at the touch, catching herself up on the edge of striking out, she relaxed at Itachi's soothing words. Nodding once, she drew in a shuddering breath. "Though Kei was able to give them quite a bit of intelligence about Suna, he didn't know nearly everything. Not as much as me, a Sabaku." Her lips twisted derisively. "Obviously he'd told them who I was, so they immediately zeroed in on me as the best source of information available. It didn't take them long to realize I wouldn't crack so easily, so..." She faltered again. _No, no, I can't do this. What was I thinking?_

Itachi's hands vanished from around her own. Surprised, Temari opened her eyes, watching as he stood, came around the table, and knelt next to her. Settling in, he reached out his hands and grasped hers again, his thumbs gently kneading her palms as he watched her silently, patiently. As he'd said, he was in this for the long haul. He'd keep listening no matter how long it took her to force the words out.

Allowing the effects of Itachi's ministrations on her hands to flow up her arms, through her shoulders, and into her neck, she felt the tension in her muscles begin to relax - and with it, the difficulty of telling her tale. Letting her eyelids slide shut again, she went on in a voice barely above a whisper. "Hikaru had been injured in the ambush. I tried to patch him up as best I could, but without proper supplies, there wasn't much I could do. Nothing mattered to _them_." She spat the word with all the venom she still held captive in her heart. "They tried to use him to get me to talk. Kei led the way, shouting questions at me while his new comrades took turns holding Hikaru's head under water. There - there were several times I thought he'd drowned, but he always came back up gasping, still breathing. Still alive. Still fighting, despite his wound, despite the infection, despite..." She bit her lip savagely until it bled. _I will not cry. I did not cry then, and I _will not_ now. Do not show weakness. Do _not_ dishonor Hikaru that way, Temari!_

"We both knew we couldn't let any information about Suna slip," Temari continued haltingly. She drew in a few deep breaths, trying to draw the calm Itachi offered her around her like a comforting cloak. "Clear up until the end, Hikaru kept telling me not to tell them anything. That he didn't matter. I knew what he wasn't saying." She could still see his wide amber eyes begging her not to give up any secrets which would endanger Suna - and, more than that, endanger his Sumi. He was willing to die for his village, but more than that, he was willing to die if it meant keeping his beloved wife safe.

He had been willing to die - and, ultimately, he had.

Opening her eyes, Temari fixed her somewhat hazy gaze on her hands, still clasped in Itachi's. Even all these years later, she could still see Hikaru's blood on her hands, on her clothes, on her skin. She could feel it on her cheeks, in her hair. She had not been allowed to bathe after trying to staunch Hikaru's bleeding, and if she let down her guard, she could still see every single thing she looked at dripping red. Squeezing her eyes shut again, she shuddered.

"Hikaru's death meant nothing to them - no more than his life had. They could no longer use him as leverage, but they had other ideas." Unconsciously she pulled her legs up to her chest, curling herself into as tiny a ball as she could. "They would do the same thing to me all day. At sunset they would force food into me, then put me in a little wooden box and suspend it over a tank of icy cold water. If I moved even the slightest bit, the delicate balance would tip and I would plunge into the water. They would leave me for a while as the box filled with water, until I thought this really was the end for me, too, then pull me up and leave me again."

She opened her eyes just in time to see what little color Itachi had left in his cheeks drain away. He stared at her with night-black eyes filled with equal parts sorrow and hatred - the former, she knew, for her and the latter for those who had imprisoned and tortured her. On some distant level she felt surprised at the strength of both those emotions, ones he held for, and on behalf of, a woman he barely knew.

"It was the middle of winter. The nights were so cold, and the tank was outdoors. I learned quickly not to sleep at night, for if I did I could not keep myself from moving unconsciously. I still am not sure how I kept from freezing to death those first couple of nights, after plunging into the cold water and staying wet all night. I suppose the box must have kept out just enough of the cold air to keep me alive." Though she had wished she would die. Sometimes she given serious consideration to moving so she could plunge into that water and drown, just to escape.

"How long...?" Itachi's voice sounded rough, strained.

Temari did not look up at him. "Hikaru lasted five days. After that, I was there almost two weeks."

Itachi's long sigh sent warm breath fluttering across the top of her head and down the back of her neck. She shivered, partly at the sensation, partly at her own nightmarish memories. "I wouldn't have lasted much longer. I had tried to escape twice, and almost made it both times, but Kei knew me too well. After that, I just kept getting weaker, and I knew for sure I was going to die there." She had almost given up to the tiredness, the coldness: wet, beaten down, and unsure how much longer she could endure _everything_ without giving in, just so she could _rest_. Even though she'd known, logically, giving them what they wanted would only hasten her death...

She was silent for longer than she thought, for Itachi finally gently prompted, "What happened then?"

Opening her eyes, she finally forced herself to look up and meet his eyes. "My brothers. Though Gaara, mostly. They sneaked into Kiri, and between the two of them did a lot of damage in a really short amount of time. They rescued me, and then we all got out of there as fast as we could." She had not found out until later - much later - Gaara had had a bad feeling about the mission. He had done some covert digging after their departure from Suna and ultimately discovered Kei's treachery. Instantly knowing how the mission must have gone, he and Kankuro had mounted their rescue mission.

"And what of that ba-" Itachi stopped, biting off the word with obvious reluctance, though embarrassment brought a little color back into his cheeks. Starting again, he asked in a much calmer tone, "And what of Kei?"

That was something else Temari had found out later. "Gaara had to go through him to get to me. The fight was short, bloody, and not much of a challenge for my little brother." She only wished she had been the one to deliver the killing blow. But she still felt gratified, avenged, knowing Kei's death had not been a merciful one at her deadly brother's hands. "Even now, five years later, Kiri is trying to recoup from the blow the Sabaku siblings dealt them." She grinned briefly, fiercely, proudly. "Eventually they might reorganize their forces and attack Suna, but after that little demonstration, I doubt it will be any time soon. Probably not as longer as my brother is alive." It had been the single most powerful demonstration of her brother's abilities. She still heard whispers about it when she went on missions - though she hadn't been back to Kiri since - and was recognized as his sister. In some cases, it helped her get through her mission easier, and in some cases, it hindered her. But she wouldn't trade having Gaara for a brother for all the easy missions in the world.

"That's why you freeze at the thought of getting _near_ water, let alone in it." Itachi nodded as if a final missing puzzle piece had slipped into place in his mind. "I thought it strange the incident when we were young made you feel _that_ vehemently about water..."

Temari nodded. "It's my last really big fear. I still feel uneasy in tight spaces, but I don't go into panic attacks any more. And I no longer fear the darkness." In fact, it had become her refuge. As long as she embraced the darkness, she didn't have to see the blood.

Itachi's eyes brimmed with comprehension. "And that's why you kept talking about blood. I understand now." Releasing one of her hands, he reached up to brush the side of her face with the edge of his index finger, a grateful expression on his handsome features. "Thank you for telling me your story," he said. "I know it cannot have been easy."

Fighting the urge to pull away from his touch, Temari simply nodded again, unsure of what to say. It _had_ been difficult, but deep inside herself, she felt somehow _better_, in a way she'd not felt since coming home from that mission. As if talking things out with a partner, and not just her brother, helped her deal with them. She felt an unanticipated sense that she could actually start putting them in the past, not just _think_ about doing so.

Releasing her, Itachi slowly stood and returned to his side of the table. After settling back onto his own cushion, he looked at her again and addressed her solemnly. "I promise, I'll not force you back into the water again. I am sorry I did so this time, and dragged those horrible memories back into the forefront of your mind."

Temari shook her head. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known. And I think - I think this has been good for me." She felt drained, but not in a bad way. She felt as if she could go to bed and _finally_ get a good night's sleep, without worrying about whether the nightmares would revisit her again.

He eyed her suspiciously, as if trying to decide if she were telling the truth or not. At last, having apparently decided she was, he smiled slightly and said, "I'm glad my blundering managed to turn out to be of some benefit, then."

A laugh spurted out of her before she could stop it, taking Temari by surprise. Clapping her hand over her mouth, she stared at Itachi over the table, noting the gleam in his own dark eyes. Dropping her hand, she laughed along with him, so relieved to be able to do so. She hadn't been able to laugh so freely, so genuinely, since before that horrible mission.

After five long years, her healing process had finally, truly, begun.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ Okay, I am _so _excited, I just couldn't keep myself from updating early. This is a _huge_ chapter, not just in size, but in revealing why Temari is the way she is, and the start of her changing into the character we see in _Shadows_. It was both easy and hard to write - easy, because I understand Temari's fear of the water so well (I'm just as terrified of it as she, but for different reasons, obviously), and hard for pretty much the same reason. Not to mention the intense nature of her confession, and there were so many times when I just had to walk away from the chapter and regain my emotional equilibrium. I was in tears a few times writing it. So if you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading this chapter, and I hope I don't give anyone nightmares or anything. I hope to see you again next chapter.


	12. Spiral

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _McKazekage_, _greetingsfrommaars_, _Halestrom_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _rao hyuga 18_, and _Guest_ for all your amazing reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and follows lists - your encouragement means so much to me!

**Author's Note:** I know I say this about a lot of chapters, but this one also goes down on my list of favorites so far. Though not as intense as the last, there are a few places where the tension does go up a bit, and even as hard as those scenes are to write sometimes, I can't help but like them in the end. I hope you enjoy it, too, and thanks for reading!

* * *

***~Chapter XI~***

_~Spiral~_

* * *

_I hate parties. With a vengeance._

Temari pretended to sip the (if the smell was anything to go by) highly alcoholic drink in her hand as she slowly scanned the room. Juuri's party was everything she'd expected it to be: extremely loud, extremely irritating, and extremely _impossible_ to find anything and anyone for whom she was looking.

The kimono Matsuri had insisted on cramming her into, done in various shades of golden brown and vivid turquoise, made her stand out among the other guests. She'd already been all but propositioned almost a dozen times once Itachi vanished with Senri, Yukahito, and Hiro (was it just her, or did the male species in general have a easier time of just about everything?) to places unknown. In light of the more than excellent job he'd done of ingratiating himself with the husbands of the women whose acquaintanceship she'd cultivated, she wanted to inject him with some of her brother's blood in hopes he'd become entirely antisocial-

-Like her. Temari had never particularly liked people in general. She found socializing with those three specifically and trying to worm her way into conversations, especially with Juuri and Kanae, harder than she'd ever thought it would be. She considered Rima much easier to converse with, particularly since she shared Temari's private opinion about parties and socializing. Unfortunately, though, she couldn't just closet herself in a corner with the other blonde and spend the evening in either contented silence or a few _meaningful_ conversations.

No. Instead, she had to _hobnob._

Half-snarling under her breath, Temari neatly avoided another _this_-close-to-drooling male and darted her way through the crowd toward Juuri. The social darling sat in the midst of a group of people literally hanging on her every word, watching her as if she were the single most important thing in the world - or at least the room. Expected, but annoying.

Drawing in a deep breath, she drew her chosen characterization of Kayo around her like a cloak and pushed through the crowd, giggling as she slipped her way up to Juuri. "Sorry to interrupt," she said untruthfully, "but I _really_ need to talk to Juuri for a second. I hope you don't mind?"

She got a few scowls, a few dreamy-eyed looks, and a few disappointed sighs, but everyone eventually filtered away to rejoin the party proper. Mingling would be far healthier for them, anyway. Without waiting for Juuri to voice her obvious displeasure, Temari launched into her rehearsed excuse. "I know this seems terribly abrupt, but I just wanted to let you know Hanbei and I have had to cancel the party at our house tomorrow night." It had been a planned move from the beginning, but she and Itachi had agreed Juuri would be the best person to tell first, since she was the least likely to keep a confidence secret. "We'll let it be _officially_ known early tomorrow, but since you've been such a good friend to me since we met, I wanted to let you know first."

Juuri bought it. The flattered expression on her face gave her away. "I do hope nothing is wrong, Kayo?" Although very practiced at hiding the eager gossipmonger tone in her voice, Temari's ear for subtlety picked it up as loudly as if the brunette was screaming.

"To be honest..." Temari hesitated, as if she weren't sure whether or not to go on. Counting down from ten, she shot a deliberately furtive look around the room before leaning a little closer and whispering, "We're thinking about going back home early. I miss my family, and Hanbei's anxious to get to work further smoothing things out between our clans. He's a natural diplomat, you know. It's his personality - he gets along with people so well."

A dreamy expression filled Juuri's icy blue eyes, and she nodded as if in a trance. "I haven't seen him much, but from what I have - and from what you've said - I can believe that."

Firmly smothering the urge to roll her eyes, Temari cleared her throat softly and continued once she was sure she again had Juuri's undivided attention. "We haven't decided for _sure_ we're leaving yet," she said. "We might still stay through New Year's. But we decided to go ahead and cancel the party just in case."

"I admire your loyalty," Juuri said. At Temari's questioning look, the other woman continued, "If _I_ were married to Hanbei, I know I wouldn't be willing to cut my honeymoon short." Her tone dripped meaningfully.

Temari knew she was being made fun of, but she didn't care. Let Juuri take from the conversation what she wanted, just so long as she passed on the message as planned. Unable to find anything to say except acerbic comments which would _not_ help her cause any, she let the other woman's comment go. "As I said, we're going to tell everyone else tomorrow, but I wanted you to know first."

Juuri nodded regally, as if it were her due to know all these things before everyone else. "Of course. Thank you for letting me know."

Tilting her head in acknowledgement, Temari turned to walk away. She was brought to an abrupt halt, however, when Juuri called after her, "And Kayo - I hope everything continues to work out for you and Hanbei."

Though the words were said casually, Temari felt an unexpected chill shiver through her, as though in reaction to an unspoken, underlying threat. Keeping her expression pleasant, as if she'd taken the words at face value, she replied with an insincere little giggle, "Why, thank you, Juuri. You and Hiro, as well." She started again to walk off, but turned back to deliver one last line. "It's probably just as well Hanbei and I canceled our party. There's no way we could have topped yours."

Leaving Juuri with no idea whether to fume or preen, Temari sauntered away. She'd planted the seed, and she had no doubt Juuri would do the rest of the work to make it bloom - without even realizing it. By the end of the night, everyone in the Land of Gems would know the honeymooning Hattori couple might be leaving early.

With that knowledge in mind, the crime ring would be forced to move their plans up. Hopefully that would make them have to rush things, and in their hurry, they'd be far more likely to make a mistake.

And then the Suna ninja could strike their heart and shut them down.

* * *

Matsuri wore a broad grin when Temari entered her suite later that evening. Arching one eyebrow, the blonde said, "Don't tell me word's spread that fast?"

Laughing, the brunette followed her mistress into the bedroom and helped her take off the layers of kimono, before assisting her into a pretty lavender yukata. "Of course, I already knew about it. But Soichiro told me earlier when he was in the stables, one of the servants from the Shiki estate came over to talk and play some _go_. He learned about it from another servant whose name and affiliation I didn't catch, but I do know s_he_ learned about it by overhearing her master and mistress, after they returned from the party early. Naturally she hurried to spread the word."

Temari shook her head after pulling out the pretty jeweled hair pins Matsuri had put there earlier. Her hair tumbled freely around her face and over her shoulders, wavy from its former confinement and still damp in some places. Matsuri had soon learned to style the blonde's hair while still wet and much much more easily managed. "Did anyone seem particularly excited about the news?"

Accepting the pins, Matsuri carefully placed them in the velvet-lined lacquered box sitting atop the dressing table in the corner. "Not that Soichiro could tell," she said. "But at least we know everything is going according to plan - at least for now."

Making a face, Temari went into the washroom to scrub off her painstakingly applied makeup. "It's the 'at least for now' part that has me worried," she said, voice muffled by a wet cloth.

Matsuri came to the doorway, the outer robe of the kimono draped carefully over her arm. "You don't think this will work?" She sounded slightly anxious.

Eyes scrunched tightly shut to keep the water out, Temari felt around until she found the towel she'd set on the counter. Shaking it open, she buried her face in it and thoroughly dried her skin before responding. "It about has to. This is the best plan we've been able to come up with. And, if it _doesn't_ work, we'll have lost our best chance to catch these people."

Frowning, Matsuri stepped back so Temari could exit the washroom, flipping the light switch on her way past. "Who is holding the next party?"

Closing her eyes, Temari silently counted off the days in her head before opening them again. "There's nothing tomorrow, since Itachi and I canceled ours. The day after that is Kanae and Yukahito's masked ball. The next night comes the Hizuri party. Itachi and I were invited, but we haven't really met the couple - we're mutual friends with Kanae and Yukahito. After _that_, I think Juuri and Hiro are planning another, smaller get-together. Then the Kurebayashi party - we also got an invite, since we were sitting next to each other at the parade the other day. And then, on New Year's Eve, Senri and Rima are throwing their big bash." Temari flopped down on her bed, feeling exhausted beyond belief. "All these parties. Makes me glad Itachi and I never planned to go through with _ours_. I do a horrible job planning them, anyway."

A softly muffled chuckle came from the wardrobe, where Matsuri was busy hanging up Temari's kimono. "That was why you had me making all the arrangements with the servants, isn't it, milady?"

"I'm so transparent." Groaning, Temari forced herself to sit up again, though she had no intentions of leaving the bed again until morning. _Late_ morning, preferably. "Do you know what tonight is?" she asked abruptly.

Matsuri's face appeared around the edge of the door. "December 25, milady."

Temari scowled. "What is this day in _particular_, in _Suna_?" _And stop playing dumb. I know you know what it is, just as much as I do. In fact, the only one who probably _doesn't_ know the significance of the day is Itachi, and _I'm_ certainly not going to enlighten him._ _Though Soichiro probably will, come to think of it..._

"The opening ceremony for the Founder's Festival - the horse race." The bright light of excitement in Matsuri's eyes dimmed slightly. "I'm sorry you have to miss it, milady. I know you were excited about racing this year."

Hugging a satin pillow to her chest, Temari rested her chin atop it and threw up one hand. "I know it's not really that big of a deal. Kazedansu and I have been racing for a long time, and we've won several. But my horse is getting up in age, and I'm planning to retire her early next year. This was going to be our last race together, and - and I was looking forward to it." The pang in her chest made her realize her disappointment was even fiercer than expected.

Quietly closing the wardrobe's door, Matsuri crossed the room to sit next to Temari. Rubbing the older woman's arm comfortingly, she said, "There's always next year, milady. I have no doubt you'll find another horse just as good as Kazedansu to compete." A tiny smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as a teasing light entered her eyes. "And next year, undoubtedly Master Itachi and Mayonaka will be racing, too. It will be a very exciting race, indeed."

Snorting to hide her laughter, Temari gently pushed Matsuri off the bed. "Get on with you!" she said sternly, but there was no sting in her words. As the brunette skittered toward the door, giggling, Temari called after her, "Thank you, Matsuri."

Pausing in the doorway, Matsuri executed a perfect bow. When she straightened, Temari noticed the soft smile on her face. "You're welcome, milady. Sleep well." Flipping off the overhead light she slipped away, closing the bedroom door behind herself.

Letting out her breath on a long, tired sigh, Temari flopped back onto the rest of her pillows, still clutching the first one to her chest. She felt too tired to move to turn off the bedside light - even to pull the covers up over herself. Rolling onto her side with her back to the lamp, she curled up into a ball around the pillow she held, her eyes drifting closed...

In her dreams, she stood in the middle of a room filled with masked people. Among them, she picked out a few familiar forms: Itachi first, wearing a jet-black mask which covered only half his face; Juuri, the features of her own twisted into a leer, her icy eyes focused on Itachi; Matsuri, who wore a headband with furry little ears to match her mask's mousy face; and - strangely - Gaara, his bone-white mask covered in trails of red paint which looked eerily like blood.

While she watched, the rest of the masked people around her exploded into action, running to and fro, snatching things off the wall, off nearby tables, holding the items they took in arms dripping with elaborately jeweled necklaces. Temari tried to move to do _something_, but when she looked down to see why she couldn't move, she discovered her legs to be encased in ice, which crawled up her thighs toward her torso, speeding up as it climbed.

Her head snapping up, she looked around wildly to Itachi, Gaara, and Matsuri, all also struggling with the ice beginning to envelop their bodies. Temari started to reach into the small reticule at her wrist, but her hands had been consumed. Her mouth opened to scream, but only her breath escaped her mouth in a fog, though she distinctly heard an anguished cry echoing in her ears...

...Temari startled awake, immediately cringing away from the light now shining directly into her eyes from the bedside lamp. She'd fallen asleep without turning it off, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the brightness.

It took an additional few seconds for her to realize the cries she'd heard in her dream had followed her into reality. She bolted out of bed, snatching up the bladed fans she kept hidden between the mattress and the headboard at night so they were close at hand; a moment later, in her haste, she slammed into the door separating her bedroom from Itachi's. Backing off, she clawed at the lock desperately until it finally released, allowing her to yank it open and tear into the dark room beyond.

The open curtains next to the bed allowed cold white moonlight to spill into the room. It cast everything in strange patterns of black and white, broken only by the soft golden glow coming from behind Temari. Her wild teal gaze swept the room quickly, but she saw no dark, ominous figure locked in battle with Itachi - or even standing above him, weapon poised to strike.

Instead, she saw Itachi writhing in his bed, hands fisted tightly in the sheets which twisted like a cocoon around his otherwise bare torso and legs. Dark strands of his loose black hair clung to his wet, pale cheeks, looking a lot like dried blood in the moonlight. She shivered at the thought. Tucking her fans into the pocket of her yukata, she started across the room while trying to figure out the best way to wake him. As she cautiously approached, his low moans rapidly built into another cry, seemingly torn from his throat by some horror she could not see, but knew from which she had to rescue him.

Knowing better than to try to touch him, Temari stood just out of his reach and called softly but firmly, "Itachi!" When he did not respond, she raised her voice as much as she dared, hoping no servants had heard and were coming to see what was going on, and repeated with a tone of clear command, "_Itachi_!"

He startled awake, snapping upwards in his bed so fast she thought he might give himself whiplash. His left hand shot out as he lunged toward her slightly. She reflexively danced backwards, even though she knew he couldn't reach her without getting fully out of the bed. For a moment he sat completely still, hand raised toward her, mouth gaping open in a silent scream as he stared at her. The torment in his wide dark eyes tore through her own still-fragile emotions.

"Itachi," she repeated his name once more in a soothing whisper. "It's okay." She didn't move toward him, but she also didn't retreat, just as he hadn't the day before by the water. She waited for him to recognize her, to realize where he was and what was going on.

When awareness finally flooded Itachi's eyes, Temari took the remaining couple of steps forward, her hand rising nearly of its own accord to wrap around his. It felt icy in her grip, though his skin was slick with sweat. She could _feel_ the great tremors running through him as he sat, his expression shifting from confusion, to sorrow, to shame before he finally looked away.

_What did you see?_ Temari wanted to ask him. And, for a reason beyond the duty she thought she'd feel if she ever asked such a question, she wondered, _Is there anything I can do to help ease _your_ hurt?_

* * *

"_Itachi_!"

The name tore through his nightmare like a sword through paper, shredding the red-tinged monochrome vision before his tear-blurred eyes. Itachi launched upwards, another scream choking off in his throat, hand reaching out to snatch at Sasuke's retreating form as he shrank away from him with fear and revulsion on his thin face. And yet-

Blonde hair, leeched of color by the moonlight, surrounded the pale face staring back at him. _Blonde hair, not black_. Confusion - _not revulsion_ - twisted her - _not his_ - features. After a long moment of internal struggle Itachi finally recognized the teal eyes staring at him.

Following hard on that recognition, another image from the nightmare he'd not yet fully woken from slashed through his mind: among the bloody, mangled bodies of his clan, of his _family_, lay a figure with blonde hair, empty turquoise eyes staring sightlessly into his, her body drenched equally with water and blood...

_Temari_. For a moment he couldn't tell which image he had of her was real - the lifeless form in his nightmare, misplaced though it was, or the live one standing before him, watching him with wary, concerned eyes.

_Alive_. The word was a balm, washing through his mind to cleanse away the images of blood and death which often plagued his sleeping hours.

Small, strong, warm fingers folded around his, further strengthening Itachi's grasp on reality. He stared up at her, watching confusion, anxiety, and pity chase themselves through her big-pupilled turquoise eyes. The last made him turn away from her, shame rising through his chest to choke off his breath. He hadn't had the nightmare since they'd left Suna. It just figured he'd been about due for another bout with it. The new addition to the old scenario also explained _why_ it had come back, so suddenly and so fiercely.

Itachi pulled his hand from Temari's, lifting it to push his damp hair away from his clammy face and neck. He hated the tremors he could still feel wracking his body, though they were finally beginning to ease. With shaking hands he unwound the bedclothes from around himself and smoothed them into decent order.

"I'm sorry." His voice croaked, attesting to how long he must have been crying out before Temari finally woke him. "I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to bed - back to sleep. I'll be all right." And he would, eventually. But he couldn't lie and say he was all right _now_, though he knew that's what she needed to hear before she would return to her own room. He kept his head averted and eyes half-closed, not wanting her to see the drying tear tracks on his face, or the anguish he knew still filled his eyes. Instead he listened, finally hearing the soft patter of her bare feet on the floor as she crossed his room. But instead of the connecting door shutting behind her, the bathroom light came on, spilling out into his bedroom and overwhelming the moonlight. He heard the sound of running water, and then her returning footsteps. A cool glass tapped against his bicep, making him jump.

Blindly, Itachi reached up, fumbling and spilling a bit of liquid before his fingers finally grasped the glass of water Temari had gotten for him. Putting it to his lips, he greedily gulped it down, allowing the refreshing wetness to soothe the irritated tissue in his throat as well as the desert-dry feeling in his mouth. When he finished, Temari silently replaced the glass with a cold wet cloth. Itachi gratefully rubbed his face with it, not missing the irony in the fact she'd provided for him the exact things he'd gotten for her when she was drunk.

Only he was stone-cold sober, and more than awake enough to feel the humilation of needing to have such things brought to him. He wasn't at all for sure his still-shaky legs would hold him if he tried to stand, and he knew Temari realized that.

Just as he opened his mouth to order her away, if necessary, Itachi felt the mattress dip as she sat down next to him. Her knee brushed the side of his leg; he could feel the heat of her nearness even through the blanket. Just as palpable as her touch, her warmth, he felt her gaze on his profile as she waited: To make sure he was okay; for him to explain to her what had just happened; or so he could physically push her off the bed, he wasn't sure. But he knew which of the three he felt most _likely_ to do.

If Temari sensed his reluctance to speak, she gave no sign of it. Instead, she just sat quietly next to him, her presence surprisingly reassuring. She didn't speak, and didn't touch him save for her knee against the outside of his thigh. She just watched him and waited.

At last, knowing she wouldn't go away until he gave her _something_ - and being too much of a gentleman either to push her off the bed or throw her over his shoulder and carry her back to her own room, kicking and screaming if necessary - he said hoarsely, "I'm sorry about that. Bad memories."

Temari stayed silent for another few moments. Then, finally, she replied in a wry yet understanding tone, "We're ninja. It's in the job description."

Her words wrung a twisted grin out of him. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, a chuckle scraping past his still-raw throat. "True." Drawing in a deep breath, he felt melancholia settle back onto his shoulders like a blanket. "But these particular memories don't really have a lot to do with being a ninja."

She shifted next to him. He knew without looking she'd just planted her elbow on her knee and her chin on her hand in a pose clearly meant to show she was going nowhere any time soon. "You listened to me. Only fair I return the favor." Just the barest hint of curiosity showed in her voice; he couldn't blame her for it. If she'd been the one screaming like that in the middle of the night, he would have gone to her, too - and wondered about the cause.

_You're right, and I hate it._ Keeping the sheets clamped to his flanks with his elbows, Itachi scrubbed his face with the cloth again, just for something to do to prevent him from being able to talk to her. He needed time, time to decide how much to say, and how to say it. Just as with her the day before, he knew she needed to hear the story. He found it somewhat amazing she evidently hadn't yet heard some version of it. But he wasn't sure he could tell her _everything_. Less than a handful of people still lived who knew the entire story of what happened the night of the Uchiha clan massacre. There was a _reason_ the truth had been kept silent - why he had agreed to keep it, and his true part in it, secret.

But Temari had been honest with him about the demons that haunted her. Wasn't it only fair he be just as honest with her - completely?

"All right." _You win._ Dropping his hands limply back into his blanketed lap, Itachi finally turned to look at her. In the light from the open doors to his bathing room and her bedroom which partially illuminated the bed, she stared back, her expression much like the one he felt sure he'd worn when she told her story. He could sense the support emanating from her, which helped bolster his courage and his resolve.

"How much do you know about recent events in Konoha?"

Temari's brow and nose wrinkled in tandem. If Itachi hadn't felt so wrung out, he might have considered the expression cute. "How recent?"

"Five years or so."

Her eyes lit with understanding at the number, and he knew she remembered their conversation about fun the day they'd arrived. "Not much. Except for Gaara, most of Suna is happily out of touch with what goes on in Konoha."

Understandable, he supposed. Even though he lived in Suna now, he didn't know what had gone on in the village in the five years preceding his arrival, either. "Fair enough." Rubbing his hands dry against the bedclothes, he sighed and thought how much easier this telling would be if she knew at least _some_ of the details. "As you know, I am an Uchiha. My clan was the second largest in the village, with the Hyuuga - I know you're familiar with them - holding the honor of being the largest.

"For generations most of us were either ninja or part of the general police force: proud to do our duty protecting Konoha from the inside and out - or so I thought." He frowned, remembering that night seven years ago when Fugaku called Itachi into his office. "Until, that is, my father finally let me in on a little clan secret. As leader of the clan he'd decided Uchiha were tired of taking orders. He formulated a plan where the entire clan would rise up, overthrow the current leader of the village, and seize power for themselves."

Something flickered deeply in Temari's shadowed eyes. "Except for you," she stated rather than questioned.

Itachi tilted his head toward her. "Yes, except for me. But not immediately. Not - out of hand." In fact he had spent several weeks in emotional agony, wondering which loyalty he should follow. Siding with Lord Sarutobi meant betraying his entire clan - his _father, _his _mother_. But siding with Fugaku would just as surely be a betrayal of his village; of the very people he had vowed and worked so hard to protect. "It took me the better part of a month to decide the right course of action - whether to betray my clan, or my village."

"The fact you are here," she said softly, "basically answers the question."

"Hn." His relief only barely outweighed his guilt once his decision had been made. "As soon as I made up my mind, I went straight to Lord Sarutobi, the leader of the village at the time. I kept him apprised of the situation and plans within the Uchiha, while simultaneously _pretending_ to keep my father in the dark about Lord Sarutobi's knowledge of the situation.

"Two years passed, and finally a date was set for the coup. I remember feeling oddly calm, and somehow relieved to have such information in my hands. I had spent so long waiting for such a thing, always wondering when it would come, that to hear those words at last was something of a release. So I took the news to Lord Sarutobi. He was an old man at the time, but I had never seen him look so _aged_ as he did at that moment, like he was a thousand years old." To his dying day, Itachi would never forget the look on the old man's face as he stared across the desk, his eyes on Itachi without actually seeing him.

"He arranged for me to go on an important mission, one on which my father could not refuse to let me go. In this way, I would be out of the village at the time Lord Sarutobi put _his_ plan into action." Itachi scrubbed his hand over his face. "I left as if there were nothing wrong, even going so far as to wish my clansmen luck before I departed." He remembered it as clearly as if it had happened only yesterday. He kissed his mother's cheek, bowed to his father, and fondly poked Sasuke in the forehead with his fore- and middle fingers, a longstanding tradition. Mikoto twinkled her sweet smile at him, despite her obvious worry; Fugaku bade him to hurry, for if he did, he might still get home in time to help; and Sasuke rubbed his forehead and complained about his always getting poked.

And then he left, not daring to look back for fear of not having the courage to walk away. He knew when he returned, the Uchiha as he knew them would no longer exist. All he could do was pray the plan he had set into motion to save Sasuke would work, because his cheerful, energetic brother was innocent, too young to be admitted into their father's machinations. And while he knew many innocents would die with the guilty, he just _could not _let Sasuke be one of them. He could live with the others, so long as his beloved little brother survived...

It was his one way to have a say in what would happen, even though the rest was entirely out of his control.

"All through my mission, I kept wondering how things were going back in the village. I admit I did not pay as much attention to my mission as I should have." He had tracked the former Konoha nin - one of Sarutobi's own students - to a small village known as the Sound, and spent several days keeping an eye on him. His mission was meant to watch him and report back any suspicious activity on the rogue nin's part, but there had been a proviso - one which still haunted Itachi five years later.

"Lord Sarutobi sent me to monitor the activity of one of Konoha's rogue nin, a man by the name of Orochimaru." Normally he would have kept such crucial (and, technically, _confidential_) mission details to himself, but Temari had proven herself trustworthy, and he knew she would do nothing sinister with the information. "I was to report back with the details of his activity - _unless_ I saw him doing something which had direct impact on Konoha, and the safety of her people."

A tremor passed through Temari's leg and her eyes flickered with recognition of the name, but Itachi noted it only distantly. Forging forward before he kept himself from telling the rest of the story, he said, "It came down to that point. I actually had him within my sights, ready to let the kunai fly and take him in the throat. But-" Even now, all these years later, his own weakness shamed him. "-But I knew at the same moment, my clansmen were preparing to unleash their fury upon the leader of the Konoha and her forces, who planned the same in return. I lost my focus, and he slipped past, out of sight, out of reach. I tried to find him again, but he had left the village."

Had he looked up, he would have seen Temari's expression change - seen the shadow of horror pass through her eyes, noticed the pause in the steady rise and fall of her chest as her breathing hitched. She shifted her weight sharply, her knee losing its former contact with his leg. But he was too engrossed in his confession, too ashamed of his failure to look up at her for fear of seeing rejection and condemnation on her face.

"I didn't know where he was going, so the trail went cold - at least on the surface. Even though I knew it to be wrong of me, I automatically assumed he was going to Konoha, because that was the direction in which _I_ wanted to go, even though my instincts were telling me something entirely different."

His fists briefly clenched on top of his thighs. "By the time I got back to Konoha, it was over, but just barely." He fiercely rubbed his eyes with his right thumb and forefinger, desperate to rid himself of the bloody images he saw nearly every time he closed his eyes. Blood bathed the walls of the clan's usually pristine district, a flowing stickiness which splashed everything, even him. He tried to pass without identifying individual bodies, but he couldn't. He knew every single one of the dead, and could not pretend otherwise.

"I made my way straight to my house. I had to see - had to know..." The ANBU black ops in service to Lord Sarutobi were nothing if not perfectly efficient. Itachi, in fact, had given up his opportunity to become one of them to play his dutiful part in Lord Sarutobi's plan. "My parents had been in the middle of briefing their key players, the members of our clan placed closest to Lord Sarutobi. They were all cut down where they stood - or, in some cases, knelt." The room had been the bloodiest he'd yet come upon. For hours afterward, everything he looked at had seemed red, as if his eyes had been bathed in blood which left a film over his eyes, forever staining his perception of the world.

"I picked my way among them to my parents. All I could do was stand there, knowing everything was over with their deaths, since they were the ultimate instigators of the coup. But at the same time, I felt so _guilty_-" His voice broke. He ground his teeth a few times to smother the tears once again threatening the corners of his eyes. "-I felt so guilty, and then so numb. I knew those who had executed Lord Sarutobi's orders would report back their success to him, but I had a duty, too. I needed to report to him, but - I stayed, grieving over my parents' choices, as well as my own.

"I was just getting ready to leave the room when the door across from the one I'd used opened." He could still see Sasuke's face, frozen in that moment: the white-faced desperation, the wild-eyed panic. He still heard the frightened whimpers emanating from the boy's throat as he saw the bodies of his clansmen - people who had teased him, given him treats, ruffled his hair, even showed him how to throw shuriken and kunai in their rare spare time - and his expression twisted even more into outright terror.

But that was nothing compared to the shift in his little brother's expression when he saw Fugaku and Mikoto, with Itachi standing over them, dressed for a mission - to his eyes, dressed for battle. Dressed to _kill_, with many weapons visible in holsters and pouches all over his body.

"It was Sasuke. My - my younger brother. He had escaped the slaughter-" somehow, even now, he just couldn't bring himself to tell her about his part in Sasuke's being spared "-and come home to something even beyond his worst nightmare. For a moment he just stood there and stared at our parents, and then up at me. I saw the fear, the heartbreak, the _betrayal_ in his eyes. I _knew_ he thought I had done that horrible thing, and - and I couldn't do a single, solitary thing to dissuade him." He shook his head slowly. "How could I? In a way - in so many ways - I did have something to do with their deaths."

Quickly, he glanced up at Temari, then back down to his hands, lying knotted together in his lap. "So you see, Temari, you aren't the only one who sees their hands stained with blood. But whereas you were innocent of any wrongdoing, I - even though I did not raise a single blade against my clan, my _family_ - murdered them all. Their blood truly stains my hands, now and forevermore."

Silence fell. After a long pause, Temari cleared her throat. "Why did you allow your brother to think you killed them?" Her voice was rough with unshed tears, and something else to which Itachi couldn't quite fit a name.

Itachi's lips twisted and he shrugged heavily. "What could I say to deny it? Obviously word absolutely _could not_ get out about what my parents planned to do. Konoha's enemies would've been on her like flies drawn to the scent of death. Lord Sarutobi and I knew that as the only surviving adult Uchiha, and Fugaku's heir at that, everyone in the village would _assume_ I'd orchestrated the massacre. Even though the old lord officially decreed the killing had been the result of an 'internal power struggle' within the clan itself, public opinion was against me so strongly that for five years I lived under guard in virtual house arrest while the best legal minds in Konoha tried to convict me of the crime. But since no evidence existed _explicitly_ implicating me in my clan's massacre, ultimately they had to drop the case and let me go, rather than take my head." Itachi laughed once, but it was utterly without mirth. "During that time, Lord Sarutobi died. When Lady Tsunade took over, she was informed of the truth of the matter through secret documents he left for her, and the two of us worked out an agreement. Obviously I could not go back to life as usual in Konoha, so I was sent to Suna as an advance of sorts. I know Hyuuga Hinata will be following me in a few years, to marry your brother. My presence here was intended to pave the way for her, to make her transition a little easier." He sighed deeply, feeling more exhausted than he had in a very long time. "And now we come to the current day, and our current situation. You and Lord Gaara are the only two people in Suna - and two of only a handful of people - who know what happened the night the Uchiha were wiped out. I must ask you please to keep what I just told you in strictest confidence."

Temari was silent for a long time, during which Itachi couldn't bring himself to look up at her. He waited for her to say something, to display some sort of reaction to what he'd just told her. When she did speak, though, what she had to say was not at all what he'd expected. "When was this?" she asked.

At the abrupt unexpectedness of the question Itachi finally lifted his head to look at her, his brow wrinkled in confusion. "Five years ago," he said. "As I told you before."

She shook her blonde head in a quick, hard denial. "I _got_ that part," she said, a touch of impatience in her tone. "I meant what _date_, specifically?"

Itachi blinked, surprised at the question. "July twenty-sixth," he said, feeling even more confused.

As he watched, the color drained out of Temari's cheeks. She stared at him as if seeing him for the first time - or at least in a different light. "_Oh_," she said softly on a long exhalation.

"What?" The question croaked out of him as the feeling of something else terribly wrong built in his chest.

"My father was killed on July twenty-seventh, five years ago," she whispered. Her eyes, wide and filled with horror - much as Sasuke's had been - met his. "He was murdered by a man named _Orochimaru_."

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ I know I say this a lot, but this chapter also ranks highly on my list of favorite chapters so far. While not as intense as the last chapter, there were several parts where the tension just kind of crept up, and there's just something about those scenes - writing them, and then going back to re-read and edit and add things and such - that get me every time. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you again for the next update!


	13. Tension

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _McKazekage_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _Singofsolace_, _rao hyuga 18_, _Halestrom_, and _greetingsfrommaars_ for all your wonderful reviews! And also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and alert lists - every single one of you keep me inspired!

**Author's Note:** Ah, we _finally_ get to this chapter! It was _so much fun_ to write, I can't even describe! Lest I give too much away, for now I'll just say that I hope you enjoy the chapter, and thanks for reading!

* * *

***~Chapter XII~***

_~Tension~_

* * *

Itachi stared at her, eyes wide, mouth hanging open a little in obvious shock. Temari saw a long shudder go through his lean body, causing the bed to shake beneath them. She saw as well the precise moment his expression shifted to guilt, then horror, then complete and utter mortification. His broad shoulders slumped as he bowed his head in shame, his midnight hair falling forward to curtain his face.

"Temari, I-" he started to say in a husky voice.

"Don't apologize!" The words snapped out of her with more heat than she'd intended. "And don't look like that, either!" His head quickly lifted again, his night-dark eyes wide and startled in the indirect light. Temari smiled apologetically and held up a placating hand. In a more moderate tone she said, "Wait, let me explain. My father was never what you would call a - _nurturing _- parent. In fact, he tried very hard to turn Gaara into the ultimate human weapon in order to further his thirst for power and conquest. Fortunately, despite his best efforts, he did _not_ succeed in turning Gaara into a _mindless_ ultimate human weapon." She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "What I'm trying to say is, Suna, Gaara, and even Kankuro and I, for that matter, are much better off for him being dead." She briefly considered telling him she'd actually been hiding nearby when Orochimaru killed her father and could have raised an alarm, but decided against it: The man looked shellshocked enough as it was. Leaning back, she propped herself on one hand and offered a sardonic smile. "In fact, when we get back to Suna, I might even give you a medal for letting him go."

Continuing to stare at her, Itachi slowly shook his head as he rubbed his hand across his mouth. "Whoa," he said, tone low. "I had _no idea_..."

Temari lightly touched his arm with her free hand. "Don't beat yourself up over it," she murmured. "I know he's still out there, and still a danger, to your village and mine. But - the benefits of him being alive to take out my father far outweigh the present and future risks, if you ask me." _Which he didn't, but we're getting along rather well, so we'll not point that out._

Itachi pushed his loose black hair back out of his face, looking completely at a loss for words again. His mouth opened, closed, opened again; then he huffed out a soft breath. "After all this time," he whispered, "to learn the impact of my letting him slip away..."

"I know what you mean. It's nothing short of incredible that now, as partners, we should find ourselves to be linked in such a way. -Y'know, I really wish you'd stop staring at me like that, though," she added. "It's getting on my nerves."

"Sorry." With a clearly visible effort, Itachi forced his gaze from her face and focused it instead on the open door between their rooms. "I suppose neither one of our fathers would have taken any prizes," he murmured as if to himself. He appeared to fall into a reverie, thoughts Temari felt she could make a good guess at shifting shadow-like through his black, black eyes. After a few moments he offered softly, "I can tell you what I was told about him before I went on that mission, though I regret it isn't very much. But maybe if we pool our knowledge, we'll be better prepared just in case something else comes up about him."

"Good idea," Temari agreed. "We'll work on that as soon as we get back to Suna and debrief from this mission."

Her partner nodded, looking distracted. "We'd best try to get back to sleep," he said, rubbing his forehead with one hand. "We've got a busy, busy day tomorrow." A glint of humor temporarily flared in his eyes as he turned them back to her. Temari found that a good thing to see after the pervading tragedy which had filled those dark depths earlier.

"That we do." Sliding off the bed onto her feet, Temari stretched and swallowed back the accompanying yawn. "I'll see you in the mor-" she checked herself, grinning sheepishly "-_later_."

"See you then. Sleep well." Itachi looked up at her, but made no move to lie down again.

Temari wondered if he'd be able to go back to sleep after that nightmare. Then again, she had been able to sleep better after unburdening herself, so she hoped it would go both ways. "Thanks, and I hope you do, too. Tenfold." She waggled her fingers in a brief wave. On her way past she flicked off the bathroom light, then went into her room and shut the door behind her, sensing how his eyes followed her.

This time Temari flicked off the bedside lamp on her way back into her bed. As she settled once again beneath her own blankets, she mentally reviewed everything Itachi had told her. It certainly explained the distant sadness she'd spotted in his eyes on several different occasions. He'd been hiding just as dark a secret as she had, and carried just as heavy a load of anguish and guilt over his as she did over hers.

_Is that what you meant, little brother?_ Temari's lips twisted in a wry grin as she rolled onto her side and squeezed her eyes shut. All this time, Gaara kept insisting she and Itachi had more in common than she thought. Obviously he would have known about the Uchiha's past, and she knew for _certain_ he knew about hers. _It would stand to reason he decided these two events make us natural partners. Did he know, or at least suspect, we would unburden ourselves eventually?_ He must have; otherwise, why would he bother going to all this trouble?

_You, younger brother_, the thought drifted lazily through her mind as she slipped back to sleep, _are one conniving little genius, aren't you?_

* * *

The next morning Hanbei and Kayo deigned to make an appearance in the sun-drenched breakfast nook just a few steps away from the kitchen, one of only three such so far during their stay. Nor did they do so as a matter of impulse - their alter-egos had a plan, and it was time to put it into action.

Feeling the adrenaline buzzing through her bloodstream, Temari waited to speak until the serving maid reached the doorway after replenishing the teapot, making sure the girl still heard while seeming to be waiting for her to leave. "I want to go _home_, Hanbei."

Itachi looked up from the letter in which he pretended to be engrossed, an irritated expression on his face. "We've already had this discussion, Kayo. You agreed to wait until after New Year's."

Very precisely putting down her chopsticks, Temari crossed her arms over her bosom. "I changed my mind."

Tossing down the letter, Itachi pinned her with a very convincingly heated glare. "You know very well I cannot begin my duties for our clans until _after_ the New Year. Also, there's the matter that even if we were to pack and up and leave this very moment, we couldn't get back home until _after_ the holiday. It's not like you'd be able to spend it with your family; why not stay here as planned, where things are more relaxing?"

A very soft scrape from the direction of the door, indiscernable to any ears but a ninja's, made Temari certain at least one maid listened there, if not more. _Excellent._ Infusing her tone with pathos, she said, "Don't you understand how _homesick_ I am, Hanbei? I don't like it here! There are too many people, and they're all ones I don't know."

"You know _me_," Itachi returned icily.

"Do I?" Temari threw the words at him with the force of a kunai before returning to sounding piteous. "When you asked me to marry you, you _promised_ me you'd do _whatever_ it took to make me happy. Well, I'm very much _un_happy right now!"

Itachi gripped the edge of the table with white-knuckled force, a very convincing display for anyone who might be peeking as well as listening in. "Kayo, you told me you wanted an adventure. You told me you were _tired_ of your life, of always being prim and proper and perfect for your parents. You _begged_ me to take you away somewhere, until it was all I could do to wait until our wedding to do so! And now that we're _finally_ on our adventure, you want to just turn around and go home?"

"This isn't an adventure, Hanbei! This is a _nightmare_!" Snatching up the only empty serving dish on the table, she threw it at the wall, feeling only slightly guilty when it shattered spectacularly. Fortunately, the exorbitant price Gaara had had to fork over to rent the house for them would more than cover its replacement. At least, she hoped it would. She watched Itachi stiffen as if in shock and outrage as she ground out her next line from between her clenched teeth, "I. Want. To. Go. _Home_!" The final word emerged nearly as a shriek.

"Think about Senri and Rima," Itachi said, his voice mostly calm. The slightest trace of a tremor, however, betrayed his eroding self-control. "They'll be disappointed if you don't go to their New Year's party. They've been such good friends to us while we've been here, it's the least we can do."

"Don't try to guilt _me_ into anything," Temari growled. "I can guarantee it won't work."

"Because you have no conscience?" Itachi demanded caustically.

Flouncing back in her seat, Temari stared across the table with betrayed eyes. "How dare you?" She kept her vicious whisper just loud enough for those outside the room to hear.

"Come now, Kayo, let's be honest with ourselves here. You've never loved me, just as I've never loved you. But I've at least been making an _attempt_, even if I've not felt any reciprocation on your part. So, following that line of thinking, I feel entirely justified in saying you're not just without a conscience - you're without a _heart_, as well." Itachi's smile, cold and smug and more than a little virulent, looked out of place on his usually reserved features.

Leaping to her feet, Temari threw her napkin down atop the untouched food on her plate and hissed, "I will be in my room. Come upstairs to me only after you've seen reason, because I _refuse_ to talk to or even _look_ at you until you agree it's best for all involved for us to go home. In fact, I might even go back without you!" She started to stomp to the door, but paused only a step away to whirl back and deliver a final parting shot. "And you're right, Hanbei. I don't love you, because I always have and always will _hate_ you!"

Without taking the time to wait for a response, or even see the carefully rehearsed look on Itachi's face, Temari stomped her way to the door and yanked it open. She felt pleased to see several pale, wide-eyed faces staring back at her. "What are you all looking at?" Wildly waving her right hand and arm while being inconspicuously careful not to strike anyone, she shrieked, "Out of my way!" She charged through them, scattering them like sand granules in a storm.

By the time she reached her suite, the bottoms of her feet hurt, the pain radiating up her legs and into her knees and hips. However she had a feeling her and Itachi's performance had had its desired effect. Just in case the rumors of their canceling their party to depart early didn't hurry up the thieves, the argument the servants just witnessed was certain to do the trick. There was no way all those people could keep such a juicy tidbit as their master and mistress having it out over the breakfast table to themselves. Within the hour, the word would be filtering its way out to other nearby manors; from there, the entire village - including their targets - would know about it by sundown.

Just one last piece of the plan remained to be put into motion. For that little gem, they needed to wait until later in the afternoon: enough time to make it believable, yet still allow time enough for word to travel the required distance.

Sliding off her slippers, Temari hobbled her way across the room and yanked the golden cord to summon Matsuri. The brunette arrived only a few minutes later, cheeks flushed, eyes aglow with a secretive little sparkle.

"It worked like a charm, milady," she whispered as she shut the door behind her. "The entire house is abuzz, and the news has already been passed on to the servants on off duty rotation so they can start circulating it."

"Excellent." Planting her hands on her hips, Temari eyed her bedroom door and said, "Well, we'd best get busy. We've got a _lot_ of stuff to pack, and not a lot of time in which to do it."

* * *

Itachi heard the arrhythmic _thump, thunk, thud, thud, thump, thunk, thump, TOK!_ of the trunks bumping down the stairs just as he reached for another book. Drawing in a deep breath, he went to the door of the library. He paused for a moment, seeking to center himself as he would before entering combat. Then he yanked it open, excitement at going into his and Temari's next round of playacting coursing through him.

Perhaps he'd missed his true calling, he reflected as he drew in a preparatory breath. Maybe he should've become an actor.

When he banged the door open, Temari immediately dropped the end of the huge trunk she'd been wrestling down the stairs with the help of Matsuri. Several smaller trunks already stood at the bottom of the staircase, while another rather sizable group of large ones still waited at the top. "Kayo!" he bellowed. "What are you doing?"

Picking up her side of the trunk again, Temari straightened and glared across the entryway at him. "What does it look like?" she replied waspishly. "I'm getting ready to leave!" She and Matsuri got the trunk down the last few steps and let it thump to the floor beside the others.

"You are _not_ walking out on me." Itachi stalked across the entryway and grabbed Temari's wrist before she could reach the steps again. He tensed his fingers so he appeared to be gripping her arm with his full strength, while at the same time exerting very little pressure. She turned her head to fix those searing teal eyes on him. He went on intensely, "Our clans have managed to build a tenuous truce thanks to our marriage. If you walk out now, in the middle of our honeymoon, everything will fall apart. Is that what you want, Kayo? Will it make you _happy_ to see our two clans at war again, with clansman after clansman falling victim to a little lover's spat?"

Temari yanked her arm out of Itachi's grasp and aggressively thrust her face towards his. "Is _that_ what you call this? A 'little lover's spat'? Ha!" Planting her hands on her (shapely, he untimely noticed) hips, she bared her teeth at him and snarled, "_Lover_ indeed! You may have gained my bed once, Hanbei, but I assure you it's an honor you'll not have again!"

Itachi sensed an ever-growing number of pairs of eyes watching from the various doorways leading into the entryway. Ignoring them all, he focused on the bewitching flames dancing in Temari's eyes and replied, "You walk out now, Kayo, and I promise I will hound you until you _beg_ me to take you back. You'll not sleep, eat, or even _breathe_ without me right there, driving you crazy, until we're together again. Because even if you don't care if the feud between our clans continues, _I_ do!"

"You can't stop me from walking out that door." Her chin went up and set in a very familiar way that was every bit Temari. "In fact, I _dare_ you." She spun away, foot lifting to carry her that first step toward the front door.

Again, Itachi lunged forward, capturing her arm so he could yank her back around toward him. She squeaked realistically as she bounced off his chest, her free hand instinctively reaching out to latch on to his sleeve. "I take that dare," he growled.

Her eyes lit with a wicked gleam. He knew even before she spoke that she was veering off-script. "What are you going to do to keep me here?" she challenged. "Tie me to the bed?"

Two could play at that game. Curling his lips in a wicked grin, he bent his head towards hers and replied huskily, "_Maybe._"

The shocked expression on her face made a flare of satisfaction go through Itachi. _Gotcha!_ Her mouth dropped open, but nothing except an odd little croak escaped her throat before her mouth snapped shut with an audible _clack!_ of her teeth.

"Stay. Please." He pinned her with every last bit of Hanbei's intense, attraction-charged persuasion evident in his eyes.

"Tomorrow," she half-garbled, looking just a little dazed.

"New Year's," he returned, pleased with their smooth transition back into scripted territory while still smug over their ad-lib - _particularly_ his part.

"Day _after_ tomorrow," came her counter-offer, clearer and easier to understand this time.

"New Year's_ Eve_." He leaned a little closer, allowing a smoldering tone to creep into his voice. "That, Kayo, is my final offer."

Her eyes glazed over just a little. "New Year's Eve," she agreed. "But only because of Senri and Rima."

"I'll take whatever I can get." Ignoring her sound of protest, Itachi swept Temari, who did a very good job of acting totally stunned, up into his arms. He carried her up the stairs, taking them two at a time just because he could, past the appropriately gaping Matsuri and other, bolder, servants who had gathered to see what the ruckus was about. "Matsuri! Make sure we're not disturbed for the rest of the day. In fact - make that not until tomorrow morning. _Late_ tomorrow morning."

He saw her curtsy out of the corner of his eye. "Y-Yes, milord."

The moment the door to his suite closed behind them with a satisfying slam - thanks to a shove of his heel - Itachi, sternly repressing an urge to whirl her triumpantly around the room, carefully set Temari back on her feet. For a moment she stood and stared at him incredulously, puzzlement obvious on her features.

"I-I didn't think you'd ad-lib," she said, dumbfounded.

Engaging the lock, Itachi kept his face carefully devoid of anything which could be construed as smugness as he turned towards her again. "You went off-script earlier today with the dish, so I thought you might do it again this afternoon. I decided I'd best be ready." The corner of his mouth twitched up, despite his sternly ordering it otherwise. "And I've never been adverse to a little spontaneous re-writing of the script, as long as it's good for the whole."

Temari hid her snort of disbelief behind a well-timed cough. "You surprise me yet again," she said. "I thought I had you pretty well figured out. Rigid, by the book-"

"No fun at all in other words, right?" Itachi had had a feeling. At least in their recent acquaintance, Temari often treated him like a stick in the mud. She'd been too busy hating him when they were younger to think outside that particular box.

A reluctant smile kicked up her own lips. "Something to that effect."

Wondering if he'd regret the question even as he asked it, Itachi ventured, "And what do you think of me now, hmm?" He motioned Temari to one of the cushions at the table in the center of the sitting room, exactly like hers except for the colors.

Staring at him as Itachi took his own seat once she'd settled, Temari pursed her lips thoughtfully as she considered him through narrow eyes. "_Not_ a stick in the mud, or a lemon," she said. "At least not _all_ the time."

Itachi's eyebrows froze in place, stuck between the urge to rise in surprise and lower in disapproval. "A _lemon_? What in the world made you think that?"

Temari held up one hand in a faux shrug as she planted an elbow on the table and rested her chin in her other hand. "I wondered if Konoha sent you over to Suna because you were a lemon ninja they just didn't want to deal with any more." At his half-shocked, half-wounded look, she shook her head. "I don't think that any _more_, obviously. But back at the beginning, the thought did cross my mind quite a bit. Until we sparred. Then I knew you weren't a lemon. I still wasn't sure what you were, but I knew it wasn't that."

_A lemon. I suppose it's better than some things she could have called me, but still... _Shaking his head, Itachi said, "You know, I think we'd best change the subject. I'm not sure how many more of your views on the subject of my personality and abilities I can take for today. Perhaps even this month."

The corner of Temari's lips twitched again, a sign she now at least acknowledged him as mildly amusing, even if not outright funny. "I think that's probably a good idea. Though, before we close out the subject, I wish to point out I _do_ think slightly more highly of you than I did at first. I came to some erroneous conclusions about you - obviously - and have accordingly adjusted my opinions."

"Thank you?" Itachi certainly wasn't going to fall into the trap of asking which opinions, exactly, she'd altered, and to what extent. He really wasn't sure he wanted to know. "But now that we've managed to seclude ourselves from the rest of the house for several hours, it's time to finalize our plans."

Immediately, Temari's features rearranged themselves to a more businesslike expression as she sat up straight again. Apparently she felt more comfortable with the subject, for she instantly replied, "Yes, I was just thinking the same thing. Now that we've established our departure date, the thieves' window has narrowed considerably."

When Temari paused, Itachi immediately took up the thought. "I think it will take the thieves at least a day to work out an alternate plan," he said. "That is, of course assuming they intended to strike on New Year's Eve."

"It makes sense. Senri and Rima are holding the largest party, but many others will be out at gatherings of their own in one manor or another. That will leave many houses open and ripe for the picking. And if our hunch is right that a few key servants in every house are in on it, their job is made all the easier."

"And ours all the harder. Finding out _which_ servants, I think, is probably the biggest roadblock left in front of us. I doubt they'd repeat the same system in every house. Even if they did, how can they be assured the loyal parties will all be on duty at the same time in every house?" Itachi thoughtfully rubbed his lower lip with his thumb, his quick mind spinning off on several different theories at once. He knew within seconds none of them led to anything particularly useful.

Tapping her forefinger against the tabletop, Temari squinted at a point beyond Itachi's left shoulder as she turned the problem around and around in her mind. "Unless," she said abruptly.

When no more information seemed forthcoming, Itachi raised his eyebrows and prompted, "'Unless' what?"

Temari's thumb and middle fingers joined in the beat. "Obviously, all the servants involved with the ring will know plans have changed as soon as news of our set departure date reaches them. Assuming they have a reliable way of getting in touch with the other thieves quickly, their plans, as well, are going to change."

Itachi's mind jumped ahead several steps as he saw where this was going. "Even if they _weren't_ due to be on duty that night, they've been working to establish some sort of pattern," he said, nodding slowly.

"Exactly!" Temari looked pleased at his conclusion. "They've made a habit of being certain places at certain times on certain days, and undoubtedly they've come up with good reasons for being there. That way, when they show up there at the same certain time on New Year's Eve, there's nothing suspicious about their behavior."

"_But_," Itachi said, a sense of giddy gleefulness rising in his chest, "this change of plans might shake things up more than even _we_ anticipated. Also assuming they've got a set routine, it's doubtful this is set for _every_ night. A change in their routine now would be highly suspicious."

"_So_," Temari continued meaningfully, "it's highly likely a lot of members of the ring are _not_ going to be on duty, or even in the vicinity of where they're supposed to be, the night of the actual theft."

The little something which had been niggling away at the back of Itachi's mind for the past few minutes suddenly burst to the forefront, and he frowned. "On the other hand, the thieves could just as easily rearrange the theft to another night where the same rotation schedule of their cohorts coincides to prevent just such a situation. This bunch is, unfortunately, smarter than your average band of thieves, as witnessed by how long it's taken for them to be caught." He spoke with absolute confidence in their plan - even though he knew they were basically stumbling around in the dark with very little to go on and the hope of pure dumb luck on their side.

"_Patterns_," Temari said, tone heavily laced with disgust. "I've never been good at them - mentally speaking, anyway. It's one of my worst weaknesses as a ninja."

"Fortunately for us," Itachi replied softly, without a trace of egotism, "I've always had a bit of a knack for them." Closing his eyes, he pictured the few things they knew for sure in his mind, arranging them into a sort of grid. Then he sorted out their conjecture into a handful of categories: "highly likely," "moderately likely," "likely," "moderately unlikely," and "highly unlikely." In that way, he was able to form what he hoped was a reliable pattern for servants in all the "millionaire manors" to have established.

"All right." He began slowly, feeling his way along as he spoke. "Naturally, they would have been planning this last big heist for quite a while. With that in mind, they would have sent their agents in several months early, at which time they would have started setting up their routines. As it's highly unlikely they would have done the same thing _every_ night - that's just as suspicious as suddenly showing up at an unexpected place, unannounced, especially if several new members of the household do so at once - they would have to come up with a similar schedule, one which would time out perfectly for New Year's Eve."

Temari nodded, an admiring gleam in her eyes. "Yes," she murmured. "I think I see where you're going with this, and I have to admit it's brilliant."

"You're not as bad with patterns as you think," Itachi complimented before continuing his earlier line of thinking. "And speaking of patterns, I think these servants would have done their certain something on certain days of the week. I considered an interval of every three days, but that would have been trickier to pull off, as the timing would have to be even _more_ precise for it to fall on New Year's Eve. With the certain days, let's say on Monday night, Thursday night, and Saturday night, the servants off-duty take their established and expected places, perfectly poised to carry off their part in the scheme."

"So we count backwards from New Year's Eve." Temari began drumming her fingers again, head lightly bobbing with the beat in what Itachi assumed was agreement with his theory. "It's far too suspicious and time consuming to check out every relatively new servant in every house, but by using your line of thinking and what days are remaining between now and New Year's Eve, the former heist date and our new departure time, we should be able to come up with the new night."

"Like you said, assuming they need an entire day to form their new plan of attack, as it were, that really leaves only three nights. Tomorrow is Kanae and Yukahito's masked ball. They're fairly well-to-do, so I would imagine they're one of the thieves' main targets. It's highly doubtful they'll go for tomorrow night."

"The day after that is the Hizuri party," Temari supplied. "They're comfortably off, but not super-rich. I doubt the thieves would lose too much of their haul in skipping that particular house."

"Yes. Then Juuri and Hiro are having their next - extremely private - get-together. Since they're also one of the richest couples here, I doubt the heist will go down then. They'll want what they can cull from their coffers." Itachi pictured Juuri as she'd been at the party the night before - dressed in the finest silks, dripping in jewels, and every last detail of her not-so-intimate get-together fairly screaming "I'm _filthy_ rich!" in decibels as yet unheard by man. She was even more flamboyant than Temari's assumed identity.

"The night after that is the Kurebayashi party. Like the Hizuri, they're comfortable, but not necessarily wealthy." Temari lightly nibbled at her lip while her eyes went briefly unfocused. "My guess is they'll strike either on the twenty-eighth or the thirtieth."

"Either the Hizuri party or the Kurebayashi party." Itachi nodded. "I concur."

"Having decided that, now we just need to figure out which night readily lines up with the pre-established pattern of the house servants." Temari groaned and rubbed her fingers across her forehead. "What I wouldn't give for a good cup of tea right about now. I always think better when I'm drinking tea. Or working out. And since there doesn't seem to be a bō staff, pair of weights, or rope course available, I'd say tea is the more likely alternative at the moment. But thanks to our little performance downstairs, we can't just send for a pot."

Standing, Itachi moved to the elaborately-painted screen in the corner. Pushing it aside, he smiled at the look on Temari's face when she spotted the little portable stove, kettle, teapot, and neatly-stacked tins of tea leaves on the formerly hidden table. "So _that's_ what's behind the screen in my room," she murmured. "I wondered how Matsuri was so quick to get me my tea in the mornings, but I never thought to ask."

Chuckling, Itachi went about putting some water in the pot, then setting it on the mini stove. "While that heats, we can keep thinking." He sat down next to the table holding the stove, wanting to be close enough to silence it instantly when it whistled its readiness.

Temari shifted so she could remain on her cushion yet still face Itachi. "We've established that each manor house follows the same general set of rules as far as the number of people employed and the rotation of their duties. At every minute of every hour of every day, there is _someone_ on duty. Conversely, there are also a number of people _off-_duty."

"As it's highly unlikely everyone in every house in on the plan will be either on duty or off duty at the same time, a smaller number of people will need to set up their elaborate schedules. In this way, it's easier for said off-duty servants to align their eccentric schedules in every house without seeming too suspicious." Itachi examined the neat labels on the tea tins, then took the time to call off the names to Temari so she could pick the one which sounded best to her.

Temari chose a soothing chamomile, and took over the narrative while Itachi measured out the leaves into a diffuser. "The Hizuri party falls on the twenty-eighth, a Wednesday. The Kurebayashi party falls on the thirtieth, a Friday. With New Year's Eve on Saturday, my gut feeling is they'll go for the Hizuri party on Wednesday."

Itachi nodded as he removed the water from the heat and poured it into the waiting pot, in which he'd already placed the diffuser. After setting the kettle aside, he gently set the lid on the pot, then placed it on a tray with two cups and a container of honey before carrying it over the table. While they waited for the leaves to steep, he picked up Temari's formerly dangling line of thought. "Since Friday would leave the servants with two nights in a row to go about their routine, it _does_ seem unlikely. I agree with you - Wednesday seems like the best opportunity."

Breathing out a few puffs of laughter, Temari motioned to the teapot sitting on the table between them. "What do you know? I came up with all that without my cup of tea. Perhaps I don't need it quite as badly as I thought. Though," she said quickly when Itachi reached out as if to remove her cup from the tray and set it aside, "I _do_ still want a cup of tea."

Biting back his smile, Itachi dutifully poured the tea and handed Temari hers first. "There you go." He let her use the honey before he added just a dollop in his own. After stirring it, he said, "Okay, so we've established Wednesday as the probable date of the heist. Now that that's decided, we need to get the word out to our own allies."

"And we need some sort of signal." The steam rising out of Temari's cup swirled into playful patterns as she blew on her tea to cool it a bit before taking her first sip. "We'll have to have all of our fellow ninja in hiding places around the richest houses ahead of time. But since we don't have a _time_ to match our date, we'll need some way for the ninja to alert us about the bust _without_ tipping off the enemy."

"And, seeing as how we'll be attending a party at the time..." Itachi left his sentence dangling, frustrated. Cradling his warm cup between his hands, it was his turn to squint over Temari's shoulder as he thought about the problem. He immediately dismissed cues he'd used in the past, since all of them were for much smaller objectives, thus a smaller group of people. None of the new signals he thought of seemed right, either, though. There was always one loophole in each which allowed for either the enemy or the others at the party to be tipped off to the plan.

Across the table, Temari looked just as frustrated as he. Obviously she was having no more luck than he at coming up with something useful, and they had less than forty-eight hours in which to perfect the plan, alert their cohorts, and set their own plan in motion. While the thieves had the Achilles heel of having their plans abruptly changed, those from Suna weren't without their weak points, as well.

In the end, it really did look like everything would come down to the wire. _And may the better group win._

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ Hee-hee! I'm so evil... But _gosh_, those fake-fight scenes were fun to write! And though the last part of that third scene was on a far more serious note, it had its own enjoyment as well. I'm _loving_ the opportunity, _finally_, to show how Itachi and Temari's relationship is starting to change, spilling over into their attitude toward one another, their images of each other, and even how similarly they think. It's so exciting! I'm sorry for how long it took me to update this - my beta and I have _both_ had enormously busy weeks, so she just now got it beta'd, and I just now got a chance to put it up. But to semi-make up for the lateness of this update, at the end of the next chapter, look for news of a little bonus I'm really excited about! (I would have put it in this chapter, but I promise it'll make sense in the next one why I didn't.) Until then, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you again for the next update (hopefully not nearly as late as this)!


	14. Complications

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _McKazekage_, _Halestrom_, _Guest_, _greetingsfrommaars_, _rao hyuga 18_, _Jinsei no Joo-Queen of Life_, and _TheGirlWithNoIQ_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and follows lists - every single one of you keep inspiring me every time I see a new alert in my e-box!

**Author's Note:** Again, sorry for the long-ish wait for this chapter. Life has been ... abnormally crazy. But I promise there is a _lot_ to be excited about in this chapter, and to make up for the two long waits in a row, there's an extra added little bonus at the bottom, which I'm also excited about! Thank you so much for reading this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

***~Chapter XIII~***

_~Complications~_

* * *

The bright splashes of color from women's kimono interspersed among more modern ball gowns formed a nice contrast to the men's mandatory black and white attire. Itachi stood aside from the press of people standing in groups talking or taking a spin around the dance floor, his face covered in a simple black domino which left his mouth free, allowing him to take infrequent sips from the glass in his hand.

Temari quickly left his side not long after the couple arrived, undoubtedly to find the women with whom she'd formed an acquaintance over their time in the Land of Gems. Occasionally Itachi caught a glimpse of her blonde hair, lavish turquoise ball gown, and crystal-encrusted mask, but quickly lost sight of her among the crowd again.

He found their hostess for the evening, Kanae, much easier to spot. She and her husband remained at the doorway to the ballroom to receive their guests up until the last one had arrived over an hour after the party began; they then led the first dance before retiring to prominent seats at the front of the room. Their elaborate, matching king and queen costumes definitely made it quite simple to pick them out of the crowd, even without being seated on their "thrones."

Though Itachi had done quite a bit of searching of his own, he'd only managed to find Senri in the crowd, and then by the expedient of him being the only redhead in the room. Hiro, with his average height and brown hair, blended in easily with the guests. The Uchiha wondered if he'd planned it that way - or if his wife had.

A gap in the crowd helped Itachi glimpse Temari. She, along with Rima and a dark-haired woman too short to be Juuri, were talking and laughing with Kanae. Despite her relaxed expression and smiling mouth, he saw the way her sharply attentive teal eyes were always moving, scanning, analyzing. Though more active in the crowd than he, she missed nothing.

The sense of urgency which had been steadily increasing in Itachi since finding out about the mission spiked suddenly. Now with fewer than twenty-four hours from the suspected mass theft, their plan still remained unclear. They'd gotten word out to the other Suna ninja acting as servants on vacation in the village, but they still lacked a signal. Everything they'd come up with thus far had either been far too easily noticed or would not reach all its intended recipients.

They were very rapidly running out of time.

Biting back a frown at his line of thought, Itachi casually pushed away from the wall on which he'd been leaning. Slowly he began to pace along the room's border. With hardly a glance, he placed his half-empty glass on the tray of a passing servant, who wore a dark cape and mask to carry out the night's theme so as to be unobtrusive, yet still readily identifiable if needed.

Small recesses in the wall held lights with differently tinted bulbs, creating an interesting play of colors. The chandeliers dangling from the ceiling held clear lights, so as not to distract from the walls. As Itachi passed each recess, the color of the light washing across the side of his face changed - from blue, to red, to green, to gold, to purple, and then back around. Each color picked up on the shades of the womens' clothing as they mingled, intensifying the effect.

Movement in the corner of the room closest to him captured Itachi's attention. The slighest impression of fluttering darkness vanished through a camouflaged door there, drawing him toward the spot like a moth to flame. He moved cautiously, however, making sure no one noticed his departure before he followed, tense in case some sort of attack waited on the other side.

The lights in the hall were not as bright nor colorful as those in the ballroom, leaving him blinking in an attempt to compensate. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he realized he stood in a servant's passageway leading around to the kitchen, helping those serving appetizers and drinks to make their way quickly and unobtrusively to and from the ballroom.

At first glance, the hall seemed empty. But upon closer inspection, Itachi saw the edge of the same darkness he'd observed leaving the ballroom standing just beyond the next corner, and he made a split-second decision to investigate. If he could get close enough to eavesdrop, he might very well hear something important to the mission. Since the hall was currently empty, he felt reasonably sure no one would stumble upon him there.

As Itachi grew closer, he heard two voices - one female, the other male - speaking in low, urgent tones. To his frustration, however, as he got closer, the pair abruptly ceased conversing, and light, quick footsteps - made by the woman, undoubtedly - pattered away in the opposite direction from which Itachi approached the corner.

The darkness - the edge of a cape, Itachi thought - vanished completely. He picked up his speed, hoping to get to the corner in time to peer around and at least get a vague impression of the person to whom the piece of clothing belonged. Instead, he got far more than he'd bargained for when the person briskly rounded the corner. Itachi got a swift impression of dark clothes, dark mask, dark hair, pale skin as he sharply drew back. At the same second crystal chimed as the glasses on the tray the figure balanced on one hand shifted and made contact with each other. He instinctively stretched out a hand to help steady the other man's burden; but to his surprise, the waiter moved just as quickly and nimbly, rescuing the tray and its contents without spilling even a single drop. For a few moments the two men stood staring, each marveling at the reflexes of the other.

"My pardon," Itachi finally said, offering a sheepish smile. "I do believe I've gotten turned around. Could you kindly point me in the direction of the-"

"_You_." The word, laden with unexpected venom and hatred, ground out from between the other man's suddenly clenched teeth. Behind the narrow eye holes of the mask he wore, eyes black as Itachi's own glittered with dark emotions every bit as strong as those in his voice.

It was only one word; but hearing the voice much more clearly now than when Itachi had attempted to overhear it, combined with everything else about the figure and struck Itachi with familiarity. He stood dumbfounded for a moment that seemed to extend into an eternity; reached out and snatched the other man's mask off with reflexes even faster than the faux servant's step back meant to evade the move. _"Sasuke."_ The name left his lips in a choked whisper.

The shock - so unexpected - of seeing his brother right _there_, that very moment, made Itachi think for a wild moment that he must somehow be dreaming. But no: His brother stood in front of him, very much in the flesh; his features hard, his mouth twisted in a grimace, his black Uchiha eyes hard as two pieces of obsidian.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" The words escaped his throat in an unfamiliar rasp.

Sasuke's eyes flickered from Itachi's, to the mask he still held, and back. "I could ask the same of _you_." He bit off every word with an icy snap.

Itachi's mind, mostly recovered from its shock, spun back into motion, racing along to the most logical conclusion. "The same as you, I suspect. I've been sent here to shut down the ring of thieves operating out of the Land of Gems."

His brother's eyes flickered, but he gave no other reaction to Itachi's guess. "Stay out of my way." Reaching out, he snatched his mask back and settled it onto his face again.

Itachi didn't try to keep it from him. Instead, he watched as the black mask entirely hid his brother's features from him. Though the shape of his eyes, the slope of his nose, the stubborn set of his jaw, were all familiar, Sasuke's face had very much changed from the that of the boy he remembered best. A hardness, a mask of impenetrableness, existed there that had not before. The realization sent a pang through him. _I did that._ "I cannot do that, Sasuke. We are poised to take them down. Too many things have been set into motion to back out now." Itachi spoke the words with a calmness he was far from feeling.

Sasuke's free hand curled into a fist at his side. Though the glove he wore hid his skin, Itachi had no doubt his knuckles glowed bone white from the pressure. "Konoha has been working on this mission for almost a year. _Stay out of my way._"

He did not miss his brother's reference. Undoubtedly Sasuke had come with a team from Konoha, just as Itachi had from Suna. But the younger Uchiha had said _Stay out of _my_ way_ instead of _Stay out of _our_ way._ Did he think he could bring down the ring all by himself? "Perhaps our teams can work together to bring down this ring." Suna and Konoha were going to be allies eventually, anyway, thanks to Lord Gaara's engagement to Hyuuga Hinata. Maybe he could help further pave the way for goodwill by working side-by-side with a Leaf team sent to complete the same objective.

"I will _never_ work with the man who murdered my family." With those words, Sasuke stalked past him and vanished through the door leading back into the ballroom.

Itachi closed his eyes and let out his breath on one long, shaky sigh. Bracing his back against the wall, he tilted his head to rest against the hard surface, taking advantage of the quiet hall to regain some of his lost emotional equilibrium. Though he'd had an inkling of how much his brother had changed thanks to the glimpse he'd gotten as he left Konoha, he still felt shaken by the full effect of the differences. No traces of his playful, cheerful, adoring younger brother were evident in the hard, cold lines of Sasuke's face now.

And he'd not missed the meaning behind Sasuke's parting words. By again using the word _my_ instead of _our_, he'd made it quite clear he'd disowned Itachi as a brother. Though entirely expected, the words still struck Itachi like a blow to the solar plexus, robbing him of his breath - and what little hope he'd managed to harbor that one day he'd be able to make things right with Sasuke.

With effort, he dragged his thoughts from his shattered relationship with his brother to the mission still directly at hand. The presence of Konoha ninja - an unknown number, but Itachi had a feeling a significant one nonetheless - complicated things. The fact they seemed unaware of Suna's presence, and vice versa, made things extremely dicey.

But Sasuke's presence had offered him some clues. He'd been dressed as the other male servants mingling about the room, which meant he and his cohorts had to have gone undercover as servants in some of the richest houses. (Did that mean there was an undercover Konoha ninja in his and Temari's house, too?) Depending on how much they knew, or had figured out, they would know about the probable change in the thieves' plan as well.

Which meant the two groups of ninja would undoubtedly spring their traps at the same time, thus endangering _both_ their missions. It was entirely possible the majority of the ring would still be able to make a getaway, which could _not_ be allowed to happen. He and Temari would have to closet themselves away as quickly as possible and discuss this new information. Thankfully, the party was less than half an hour away from its climax at midnight, when everyone would unmask, and then people would be free either to stay for a late meal or return to their houses.

He had no doubt about which of the two he and Temari would be doing. If at all possible, as soon as they returned to their rented house, they would go to work on finding the probable mole in their own house and try to get a message out to the Konoha ninja. He couldn't rely on Sasuke to let the other Konoha ninja know Suna was willing to cooperate with them on this endeavor.

"Are you all right?"

He tensed at the heretofore unnoticed intrusion into the hall and his own musings. Snapping his eyes open, he turned to face a female clothed in a clinging gown of royal purple, with matching jewelry, mask, and spray of feathers in her ebony hair.

_Juuri_. It didn't take much effort at all to identify the woman. Itachi felt irritated at himself for not noticing she was there before she spoke, and irritated at _her_ for even approaching him. "It's crowded in the ballroom," he said, attempting to keep his voice calm. "I just escaped through the nearest door to get some air." Forcing his lips to assume a sheepish smile, he motioned to the walls with a tilt of his head. "It seems I accidentally stumbled into the servant's hallway." _How much of the preceding conversation did she hear?_ Though her mask only covered the top half of her face, he could not discern her expression. The fact he could not see her eyes unsettled him greatly.

"I knew it was you." Juuri simpered behind the fan dangling from her wrist by a thin, braided black cord. "I watched for you to arrive, and I've been watching you all night. I just now managed to make my way through the crowd to follow you, though I've been hoping to approach you much, much sooner."

Itachi subconsciously tensed even more. He sensed nothing overtly threatening about the woman, at least in the physical sense. But the fact she'd been watching him, waiting for the opportunity to approach him - and, consequently, catch him _alone_ when she did so - sent warning bells clanging urgently through his mind. "Kayo is still in the ballroom," he said. Perhaps if he pretended to be ignorant... "The last I saw of her, she was with Rima, talking to Kanae."

The fan lowered, allowing Itachi a glimpse of the cunning smile on Juuri's bloodred lips. "I'm not interested in Kayo." The words came out in what was very nearly a purr as she sidled closer, her movements as slick and unsettlingly fluid as a snake's. "And, from what I've heard," she whispered huskily, "unless you need a way to manipulate the little wife, neither are _you_."

Understanding struck Itachi's mind as brightly and blazingly hot as a lightning bolt. "Excuse me?" He nearly choked on the words.

Now he could see through the gem-encrusted slits in the mask to Juuri's eyes, unnatually long lashes batting at him as she again simpered. "Oh, don't act so naive, Hanbei," she chided, moving up so close to him he felt the heat of her body penetrating the thin silk of her gown. "We're both trapped in loveless marriages. I don't know about you, but I've felt a little _spark_ every time we've encountered each other. I'm not adverse to fanning the flames..." Her hand not holding the fan lifted. Her agile fingers swiftly undid one of the buttons of his shirt so they could slip inside and rest against his skin, where they flexed suggestively. Her gaze, smoldering now with unconcealed desire, dropped to his lips as she swayed closer.

Sickening revulsion rolled through Itachi, threatening to send the little he'd eaten and drunk on a _very_ unpleasant return visit. Even though his "marriage" was nothing but a sham for the purposes of this mission, the thought of being seduced by this woman seemed a terrible betrayal of his partnership with Temari. Though Juuri's reference to the word "flame" held an entirely different meaning, fire _did_ arise in Itachi's chest, an ire born of the situation coupled with his roiling thoughts about his brother and the mission. Standing up straight, he swiftly gripped her wrist, pulling her hand free from his clothing as he rebuttoned his shirt with his other hand. That accomplished, he set both hands on her shoulders long enough to set her away from him forcibly enough to make her squeak in surprise.

"Listen here," he said firmly. "Kayo's and my marriage was arranged for us, yes. But despite any spats we might have had in the past, we _are_ equally determined to make the arrangements between our families - and, even more, the arrangement between _ourselves_ - work. I will _not_ disrespect my wife by entering into an affair with anyone-" he just stopped himself just short of adding, _let alone you!_ "-now, or at any other time. Good evening, Juuri. I hope you and _your husband_ enjoy the rest of your holiday, as I and _my wife_ intend to do."

Without waiting for a response - which, judging by Juuri's gaping mouth and wide eyes behind her mask, would be quite a long time in coming - Itachi swept past the woman and strode decisively back into the ballroom, not stopping until he'd found Temari.

Looking at first surprised to see him, her sharp teal eyes took note of the flush he could still feel heating his face, even as she willingly leaned into the arm he slid around her waist and tilted her head to accept the kiss he pressed to her temple. "Is everything all right, Hanbei?" she murmured, her voice carrying a wealth of meaning.

It wasn't as hard as Itachi thought it would be to encourage his lips to soften into a responding smile. "Better now," he said, for her ears only. Turning to Senri and Rima, with whom Temari had been conversing, he nodded and said, "Excuse me, please, but I'm going to steal my wife for a dance."

Temari hesitated only a moment before sliding her hand into the one he withdrew from her waist to offer her. She followed him to the area of the room cleared for dancing and readily stepped into his embrace, flowing naturally into the rhythm of the dance. "What happened?" she queried softly. "I saw you disappear through a nearly hidden door and almost followed you, but Senri and Rima caught me. I had to talk to them to keep from acting suspiciously. I was just about to excuse myself to follow you when I saw you come back out." Though she didn't mention Juuri's name, the tight way she held the corners of her mouth made it clear she'd not missed the dark-haired woman's following him in her place.

"We shouldn't talk about it here." Fortunately the song playing was a slow one, giving him the perfect excuse to lean in closely and whisper in her ear as he continued, "Though I did run into some - ah - _complications_ on the other side of that door."

Temari stiffened slightly in his arms but didn't otherwise react. Instead, she rested her head against his shoulder and responded the same, breath-soft voice, "Are we in danger?"

Itachi hesitated before replying. "Not immediately, and not physically."

She glanced up at him, puzzlement clear in her eyes. But to her credit she didn't push for clarification or react visibly. Instead, she smiled up at him as if he'd just whispered some sweet nothing in her ear, her right hand sliding up his arm, across his shoulder, then behind his neck under his ponytail in a move calculated to carry on the charade that she was nothing more than a wife relishing and returning her husband's affections.

And, he thought with a certain fierceness he didn't try to analyze, hopefully Juuri would notice and abandon any lingering hopes for romantic entanglements - if his speech and outright physical rejection hadn't done the job by themselves.

The music smoothly transitioned into the final song of the evening. Though traditionally danced on New Year's Eve, right before midnight, Itachi understood why Kanae and Yukahito had planned for it to be played at their ball. It was a song and dance meant for lovers, intense and filled with sweet memories and fresh beginnings.

Allowing the part of himself he'd set aside to portray Hanbei slide fully into place, he closed his eyes and dropped Temari's hand to slide both his arms around her waist. Her now-free hand joined the other behind his neck, warm against his skin as she tucked her head beneath his chin. As they swayed together in a langorous rhythm, Itachi dimly noted how well Temari fit against him; as if they were two halves of a whole, each incomplete as long as the other was missing. He found it to be at the same time both a wonderful and a terrifying feeling.

Across the room, the musicians gently urged the notes flowing from their instruments onward toward the finale, which approached far too quickly for Itachi. The clock ticked faster and faster toward the inevitable midnight and what was expected at the end of the song - for every couple in the room, but most particularly for those on the dance floor. The last notes drew out just as the two huge clocks on either side of the main door leading into the ballroom struck midnight. Hanging against the backdrop of the deeply resonating _bong_ of the clock as it struck each number, the chord hovered, pushing Itachi into something he'd known to be inevitable while not being at all sure he was ready to happen.

He couldn't read Temari's face as she tilted it up to meet his lowering one. Their lips fused together smoothly, naturally, as if kissing was something they'd done a hundred times before. The heat pooling in every part of his body where it touched hers flared, racing through him to engulf his head. Without consciously making a decision to do so, he gently slid his mouth across Temari's, exploring the soft responsiveness of her lips, marveling at how perfectly they fit together in this respect, too. At last the flames reached his lungs, snatching away his breath. Itachi lifted his head from Temari's with a ragged gasp, shaken by the intensity of the emotions inspired by their kiss...

...And by the fact the music of the band and the chiming of the clocks had faded away without him noticing, replaced by the soft applause of the occupants of the room.

Instinctively glancing around to see if anyone noticed his and Temari's lingering kiss, he saw with relief everyone's attention was going from the musicians, to Kanae and Yukahito, then to their own masks. He and Temari let go of each other belatedly, hands moving directly from each other to their masks so they could join in the big reveal. Noticing her hands tremble and fumble before latching onto her mask, he realized their kiss had shaken her just as much as it had him.

_I have to get out of here._ His yearning for flight changed as the reality of their situation crashed back into his mind, bringing with it the memory of how urgently he and Temari needed to talk about the mission.

A mission just further complicated by- _No, no, don't think about it! Put it out of your memory, out of your thoughts, Uchiha. It was just playacting that got a little too - real - in the heat of the moment. Let it go._

Grasping Temari's arm in his, he half-dragged her after him toward the door, knowing they needed to leave now while everyone's attention was diverted. As they hurried from the ballroom and toward the front door, he instinctively knew he wasn't just running from anyone who might notice their departure. He ran from something he knew with absolute certainty would continue to haunt him - vividly - until his dying day. He could only devoutly pray Temari even now made the same rationalizations as he, as he fled in the hope of keeping the terrifying truth at bay for as long as possible.

* * *

_He kissed me._

Temari had understood at the outset that some sort of intimate interaction would be required to carry off their duplicity. There needed to be a touch here, a hug there - and, yes, even a kiss or two. She'd prepared herself for those, to allow her persona of Kayo to take over and accept - or initiate - the contact, much like an actress on stage. The actions themselves wouldn't mean anything. She also knew what traditionally came at the end of the last dance, and thought she (as Kayo) prepared to go through with it. Just a quick peck on the lips, maybe a tad longer than that so as not to stand out from the other couples; then they would applaud with the others, unmask, and go home. Nothing simpler.

But it had not turned out that way. The moment her lips touched Hanbei's - _no, that's not right, that wasn't Hanbei, that was _Itachi - _Itachi's_, Kayo had fled. The dislike still simmering softly at the back of her mind had gone out as thoroughly as if a torrent of icy water had been poured over it, sweeping away with it her sensibility and rationality.

_He _kissed_ me._

_But - I kissed him right back._

Even now, Temari felt the attraction sizzling between them, even though a solid wall and door presently separated them. Her knees turned to jelly. She sank onto the floor next to her bed, thankful she'd managed to hold her composure together until after Matsuri had helped her out of her evening gown and into a loose pair of meditation pants and an equally comfortable top.

Had her maid seen her like this, Temari would never hear the end of it.

Closing her eyes, Temari allowed her head to fall back against the edge of the bed. Immediately, the sensations she would forevermore associate with that _kiss_ flooded her, leaving her feeling hot, and unsettled, and somehow _complete_ in a way she'd not realized she was lacking.

_How completely, utterly, and terrifyingly wonderful._

Temari's eyes snapped open again, and she scrambled unsteadily to her feet. _No! No more thinking like that. This is a _mission._ Think about the mission, Temari, and only the mission. Nothing else exists. You are _not_ going to let yourself get confused by something which doesn't even exist. That kiss was only something used to uphold your cover. It meant nothing more. _Nothing more.

Why was it so hard to convince herself of that?

Disgruntled, Temari yanked open the door between her bedroom and sitting room. Her ire kindled further when she saw Itachi sitting at the table, a cup of tea cradled between his hands, another one already at her place. He looked cool, collected; completely unbothered by the events of the evening.

Further proof - as if it were needed - _she_ was the only one feeling this way. She was _supposed_ to have better control over her emotions than this! What in the world had happened to her to make her stop separating the essence of herself from her mission persona? She'd never had a lick of trouble with it before...

...Except for that one mission, but that was different. That one had been a failure, but not through any fault of her own.

...If she kept this up, though, this one _would_ be a failure, entirely through her own fault.

Itachi eyed her as she flopped down across from him and picked up her own cup of tea so fast she nearly spilled it. "Are you all right?" Confusion and concern battled for dominance in his dark eyes.

"Fine." The word grated out of her, and Temari hurriedly took a drink of her tea. It burned not just her tongue, but all the way down into her stomach. She fought back the tendency of her eyes to water at the pain, lest it be miscontrued as something else. _Curses._ "What new information about the mission do you have?" she asked brusquely. She'd almost added, _that you mentioned during our dance_, but she would have to avoid _rabidly_ any references to that particular activity in the future.

Word of this _could not_ get out. Kankuro would never let her hear the end of it, and heaven only knew how Gaara would react.

Itachi looked at her, a doubtful expression on his face, but thankfully did not pursue the subject of her mental, physical, and emotional stability any further. "We are not the only ninja working on bringing down this ring. Konoha has sent in a team to go undercover as servants in the house. I recognized one of them in Kanae and Yukahito's house. I suggested a collaboration between our two groups, but I don't think he was willing. I doubt he'll make any effort to help the others see the situation favorably."

As if their situation needed yet _another_ complication. Allowing the implications to filter through her mind, Temari scowled. "That means there's probably a Konoha ninja undercover somewhere in this house."

Itachi nodded. "Whoever it is did not recognize me, however. The Konoha ninja at Yukahito's seemed surprised to see me there, which leads me to think it is someone whom I did not work with - _before_."

She understood what he meant and nodded her agreement. "Which means it will be next to impossible to discover who among these walls is the mole."

"Yes." Itachi set down his cup and rubbed his hands up and down his face. He looked totally exhausted when he dropped them. "We cannot allow our trap to be sprung by the wrong person - _or_ allow whatever plans Konoha has ruin the chances of our taking down the ring. This is our _only_ chance, and it cannot be jeopardized."

Exhaustion washed through Temari as well. She planted her face in her hands and shook her head slowly back and forth. "All this work..." she moaned.

"I know." A soft touch - Itachi's fingertips? - brushed across the top of her head, then vanished, leaving a lingering impression of heat behind. _Great. Something else to have to live with._ "We'll figure something out, though." _We have to_ remained unspoken but no less clear.

Lifting her head, Temari opened her mouth to respond, but a scrape at the door forestalled her words. As one, she and Itachi leaped to their feet, weapons in hand. They moved quietly toward the door, watching it, waiting for the sound to repeat itself - or for someone to try to open it.

However, instead of the expected, something entirely _un_expected happened. A folded piece of white paper slid beneath the door and rested on the floor, unmoving now that its forward momentum had died.

Itachi and Temari exchanged wary looks. Together they edged forward, one step at a time. He cautiously reached for the envelope as she slid open the door and peered outside. There was no one in view; and when she leaned out to look both directions, the hall remained dark, quiet, and empty as always, as if a phantom had delivered the paper.

Closing and relocking the door, Temari glanced over her shoulder at the paper. "There's nothing inside," Itachi reported. "I opened it just long enough to make sure there was nothing tucked between its folds, but I didn't read it." He handed it to her.

Taking it cautiously, Temari slowly unfolded it - noting the generic quality of the paper, with no defining characterstics to its weight, color, or markings - and read its contents.

The note was short and to the point:

_The mission's completion is up to you. We withdraw. Destroy this._

The only signature was the small insignia of a leaf in the bottom right corner.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ Gah, I cannot _tell_ you how excited I have been to get to this part! Two such excting things in one chapter - Itachi sees Sasuke face-to-face for the first time since he left Konoha, and then that _kiss!_ This chapter was an absolute joy to write, so I hope that all translated out well in the reading. Thank you so much for being patient with me, I hope this chapter was worth the wait and you enjoyed it, and I hope to see you again for the next update (which I hope will be up much sooner)!

_**BONUS:**_ As an extra, added little bonus for making you wait longer for both this chapter and the last, I'm holding a little competition of sorts. The first person who correctly guesses the identity of the undercover Konoha ninja infiltrating Itachi and Temari's house (one guess per reviewer, please!) will get a oneshot of 1,000-3,000 words, with their choice of Itachi/Temari, Gaara/Hinata, or Neji/Tenten as the featured pair (these being the three pairings I'm most comfortable and familiar with writing, and I want to give you my best - though I do ask the winner's forthcoming request contain _no lemons_, please. I'm sure none of you would, but just to be safe - no lemons). I'll give you a slight clue, just to be fair - the ninja _is_ one of the Konoha 12, though not Sasuke or Hinata for obvious reasons. I'll announce the winner in an author's note in the next chapter. Until then, good luck to you all, and I look forward to hearing from you!


	15. All or Nothing

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _rao hyuga 18_, _Halestrom_, _McKazekage_, _Dragon Ashes_, _MakoStorm_, _Anonymous Fellow_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _greetingsfrommaars_, and _Guest_ for all your wonderful reviews, and for competing in last chapter's contest! Also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and follows - you all keep me so inspired!

**Author's Note:** A _thousand_ thank-yous to my lovely beta, _Mama Jo_, for helping me hammer out some of the more difficult, minute details of this chapter. Seriously, I thought this thing was going to drive us _both_ mad. But, thankfully, we got it finished, so I hope you enjoy it! The winner of last chapter's contest is listed at the bottom, so I'll be quiet now so I can let you get on with reading the chapter. Thank you again for everything, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

***~Chapter XIV~***

_~All or Nothing~_

* * *

Temari smoothed her hand down the front of the modified kimono Matsuri had helped her into, admiring the dark purple background with gold piping and fan pattern. The outfit, specially designed to be put on and taken off with ease, hid the other clothes she wore beneath. She stood ready to help the rest of the Suna ninja take down the thieves - and, until that moment, put on the performance of her life.

"Thank you, Matsuri," she told the brunette as the younger girl secured the clasp of a beautiful amethyst necklace behind the blonde's neck. "So, how do I look?"

In the mirror, Matsuri's shy brown eyes sparkled playfully as she said, "If every single man in the room doesn't end the evening - up until a certain point, anyway - in love with you, I'll eat my slippers."

Smothering a grin at the mental image Matsuri's words conjured, Temari gracefully rose and slid her feet into the slippers made to match the kimono. Though very delicately decorated to look dainty, they were much sturdier than normal slippers so Temari wouldn't have to worry about hiding another pair of shoes somewhere on her person.

...Yeah, Itachi had it so much easier. He looked good no matter what he wore, and it was easier for him to hide his "mission clothes" beneath his fancier party clothing. Infuriating man.

Meeting her escort in the hallway outside their rooms, Temari slid her hand into the crook of Itachi's elbow and allowed him to help her down the stairs. She pretended her ease of movement was more restricted than it was; they didn't want the thieves' agents in their own house tipped off to how the evening would end any sooner than necessary.

"Have a good evening, milord, milady," Sara said with a smile as she opened the door for them. "Will you want a slight repast when you return?"

When Itachi looked down at her questioningly, Temari nodded. "We'll eat our evening meal at the Hizuri mansion, but we probably will like something when we get home. But perhaps something light - like some tea and _onigiri_. Thank you, Sara."

Though the Hizuri rented a house not too far down the road from Itachi and Temari's, the pair rode in a small two-seated carriage instead of walking. When they arrived, they sat in line in the elaborate round driveway for several minutes, as their arrival coincided with that of many other guests.

Happy for the slight reprieve, Temari once again mentally reviewed their plan, knowing every last bit of it needed to go perfectly right down to the _second_. The Suna nin had finally arranged a signal. The only problem was either Itachi or Temari - or, preferably, _both_ - needed to be on the balcony at the back of the house to see it. If the Hizuri decided to keep the party confined to the indoors, they would have to slip away at some point, which might raise some suspicions.

...Then again, they were pretending to be newlyweds. If anyone did wonder why the two had gone out to the balcony, a momentary romantic escape would probably be the first thing to pop into mind. At least, Temari hoped so, because she had no choice but to depend on that assumption.

When their own carriage finally worked its way around to the front door, Itachi helped Temari out, then escorted her up the front walk to the door, which stood open. Warm golden light spilled across the porch and lit the steps so nobody tripped. Inside, the couple followed the steady stream of guests ahead of them to the ballroom. While not as large and grand as in some of the other houses, Temari found it cozy and charming, its intimate proportions and warm color scheme making her feel more welcome than the cool marble and pale decór of some of the other ballrooms she'd been in recently.

The line paused as each couple reached the doorway exchanged greetings with their hosts. When Temari and Itachi finally got to their turn and bowed, she firmly smothered the smile that always wanted to spring to her lips when she saw the Hizuri. Kuon, tall and golden blond, towered over his tiny, dark-haired wife Kyoko, making them one of the most unusual but attractive couples on holiday in the Land of Gems. Both greeted Itachi and Temari with genuine warmth, seeming genuinely happy the Hattori could attend their party.

And then they were in the ballroom proper. As Itachi casually led them toward the drinks table set up in the corner of the room, Temari allowed her attention to wander along the edges of the chamber. While her line of sight occasionally grew obstructed by the groups of people scattered about, she noted several pairs of double doors. With a soft breath of relief she observed that more than one set stood open, allowing people ease of access to the balcony as they wished, while also serving to keep the room from growing too stuffy.

"There's one thing in our favor," Temari murmured as Itachi, with a charming smile, handed her a glass.

"Now, if the rest of evening goes as smoothly, we'll have this wrapped up by midnight." Itachi claimed her arm once again. Together they strolled the edge of the room and slowly sipped their (nonalcoholic) drinks, eyes scanning for familiar faces in the crowd.

"Ngh."

Startled by the sudden stifled grunt from Itachi, Temari glanced up at his dark expression. "What's wrong?" She tried to follow his gaze, but only saw Juuri and her husband greeting Kuon and Kyoko at the door.

"I rather hoped she wouldn't show up tonight," Itachi said. His expression smoothed out as he looked away from the door. "She had some, ah, choice words for me last night. I think I discouraged her, but I'd really rather not find out if she possesses a - tenacious - nature."

Temari felt her own lips twist into a sneer. To her own surprise she had to force herself _not_ to glare across the room. "She propositioned you?"

"How did you guess?" Itachi asked dryly.

"Not hard to figure out. Juuri's made no secret to _me_ she's interested in you." Looking up at him from beneath her lashes, Temari smiled charmingly. "Thank you for not taking the bait."

Itachi's lips thinned, fire suddenly sparking in his fierce dark eyes. "I would _never_ consider having an affair with anyone. Even though our marriage is not real, I refuse even to pretend to be disloyal."

The part of Temari still shaken by the kiss they'd shared the night before fluttered - with excitement, nerves, or something else, she wasn't sure what. Feeling impressed by Itachi's vehemence on the subject, she internally acknowledged that someday he would make some lucky woman a very good husband.

She sternly refused to be jealous at the thought that said lucky woman would not be she.

As they continued their languid stroll, she decided she also shouldn't be surprised they felt so strongly - and similarly - on the same subject.

Coming up on the first pair of open doors for the first time, they both sent seemingly casual glances outside. Temari smiled inwardly when she noticed spots where the edges of the balcony appeared to be sheltered from both the house as well as the rest of the its own space, and dark: the perfect place for lovers - or, in this case, two undercover ninja - to retire for an important encounter. Thus far, things seemed to be coming together quite nicely. Konoha had bowed out to let Suna handle the situation - she wondered if she'd ever know why - the doors to the balcony were open, they had their pick of dark corners, and they'd finally come up with an appropriate signal.

_This all feels almost _too_ easy_. Immediately, she suppressed an urge to shake her head, scolding herself for the thought. If she kept up with that, she was liable to put a jinx on the whole thing. _Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Temari. Be ready, just in case, but don't overthink this._

As they turned the corner, they met Juuri and Hiro coming from the opposite direction. The men greeted each other easily. Itachi-as-Hanbei perforce and Hiro moved on to talk about the things males always seemed to talk about.

Also perforce leaving their wives to converse by themselves.

The women, however, greeted each other quite coolly. Though her face remained turned toward Temari, Juuri's eyes kept flickering toward Itachi. Their depths simmered with undisguised attraction, tempered by sparks of equally powerful hatred. _"Tenacious" doesn't begin to cover it,_ Temari thought, the small hairs along her arms and the back of her neck prickling with unease. She wondered what the scorned woman would be capable of, and felt glad she and Itachi would be leaving as soon as they got the theft ring busted. She sensed something not quite _right_ about Juuri, and it unsettled her greatly.

Itachi, fortunately aware of the dislike simmering between the women, slipped his arm around Temari as soon as he could without offending the other man or raising his suspicions. "Excuse us," he said smoothly, mostly to Hiro. "I see Senri and Rima over there. I need to say something to them again about the horse Kayo got from them for me. Have you seen him, Hiro? He's big, strong, and fast."

As the two moved away with little trouble, Temari let out her breath. "Juuri unsettles me," she said under her breath once they were out of earshot. "There's something just not _right_ about her." She found it even more unsettling that she couldn't put a name to what seemed so "off" about her.

"Do you think she has something to do with the ring?" Itachi asked. His expression made it clear it was something he'd considered before, but had dismissed.

Temari thought for a moment, then slowly shook her head. "No, I don't _think_ so. She's an adulteress, yes, and certainly amoral enough to have no problems with taking what isn't hers. But she just doesn't strike me as the type to be involved in something so..." Her brow wrinkled as she tried to find the right word.

"Complicated?" Itachi offered.

"Close enough." They reached Senri and Rima at that moment, forestalling any further debate on the subject. As before, Itachi and Senri greeted each other and immediately began discussing Mayonaka. Temari and Rima greeted each other amiably and contentedly discussed other, more classically feminine, subjects.

After a few moments, Rima slid a glance in Senri's direction and then leaned a little closer. "You're leaving on New Year's Eve, correct?" she asked softly.

Immediately on alert, Temari nodded slowly. "Yes. Why, is something wrong?"

Casting a broader glance around, as if to make sure no one was listening, she said, "Since you and Hanbei won't be able to attend the party and hear our intended announcement, I'll go ahead and tell you now." Leaning closer, she whispered, voice trembling with excitement, "I'm pregnant."

"Congratulations!" Temari remembered Gaara as a baby - at least before their father got hold of him - and smiled at the mental image. Babies were cute. She silently wished Senri, Rima, and their first - and future - progeny all the best. It took very little artifice for her to beam at the other woman. "I have two younger brothers, and I remember when they were babies. _So_ adorable."

Retaining her excited smile, Rima tilted her head slightly and said, "Hopefully it won't be long before you and Hanbei get to have some little ones of your own. Senri and I are so excited. I wonder which one of us our baby will look like...?" Her blue eyes hazed over slightly as she lost herself in dreamland for a few moments.

Temari blinked, unable to refrain from picturing her and Itachi's fictitious children since the idea had been planted in her mind. If they looked anything like their father, they would certainly be handsome, if not outright beautiful, children... _Forbidden topic, Temari. Please get back to the matter at hand, and stop daydreaming about things which will _never_ happen anyway. Shame on you for even going there in the first place..._

The four talked a few more minutes. Finally Senri and Rima told Itachi and Temari goodbye, just in case they didn't see each other again before the latter couple left the Land of Gems. Then the Shiki went to the drinks table while the Hattori returned to the edge of the room to resume their stroll.

"We certainly need to take care of this ring as quickly as possible," Temari said quietly to Itachi once they'd reached the wall. "Senri and Rima are expecting. I hate the thought of _anyone_ having to go through losing all their belongings, but especially them, with a baby on the way."

"Agreed." Itachi casually glanced through the door leading into the hall as they passed it - empty now that all the guests had arrived - then turned back to her. "But it won't be long now. A couple more passes around the room, and then we can slip out to the balcony and watch for the signal."

On their next trip around the room, they met up with Kanae and Yukahito. After complimenting the couple on the masked ball they'd held the night before, Itachi and Temari kept the conversation simple, then went on their way again. Their longest delay happened when the Hizuri stopped to talk to them, though thankfully they'd not formed quite as close an acquaintance with Kuon and Kyoko as they had with Senri and Rima, and Yukahito and Kanae.

After politely extricating themselves from the conversation, Itachi and Temari returned to their unhurried final circuit about the room. As they surreptitiously slipped out onto the balcony, they each scanned the couples already there, all of them too caught up in low-voiced conversation - or in each other - to notice the pair who slipped past them. The outer corner they preferred proved thankfully unoccupied, and they slipped unobtrusively into it to begin their vigil. To camouflage their true purpose in being where they were, Itachi slipped his arms around Temari's waist from behind, drawing her lightly back against his lean body while she snuggled the back of her head into the hollow of his shoulder.

Perfectly positioned in their vantage point, they had an unobstructed, although distant, view of their own back yard next to the Hizuri's. While they didn't see any activity around the mansion, they knew several of their people - including Matsuri - hid there, waiting for the thieves to strike so they could alert the pair.

Blocking out how completely natural and _right_ their standing together this way felt, Temari tipped her head back a little further and muttered, "This is my least favorite part of undercover missions. I prefer to be in the center of the action. I've never been particularly patient, so standing around waiting - and at a distance at that - is hard for me."

Itachi's chin grazed the top of her head as he replied soothingly, "Hopefully it won't be too much longer. All the guests planning to come are here, so the thieving ring should get going at any time now."

The two fell into comfortable silence, content to stand next to each other and watch for the signal. Behind them, the low murmur of conversation from the some of the other people on the balcony blended with the louder hum coming from inside the ballroom. Soft music drifted along on the breeze, barely audible over the sound of many people talking and laughing.

Fifteen minutes turned to half an hour, then crept along to forty-five minutes with no hints of the signal. Temari exchanged a worried glance with Itachi. _Have we gotten it all wrong?_ she silently asked with a nibble at her lower lip and a lift of her brows. She felt Itachi start to shrug, just before he stiffened to the alert.

_"Listen!"_ he hissed sharply. "Do you hear-"

"-Wheels creaking?" Temari interrupted, excitement lighting inside her like a firework taking flight. "Just barely, they must have them muffled in rags- _There's the signal!_" as a penlight flashed in a seemingly random pattern of quick dots mimicking a firefly, at the boundary line of the two properties.

Before she could say anything else, Itachi had already released her and made a quarter turn, one hand swiftly drawing his own penlight from his breast pocket so he could pass the signal along at the speed of light and finely-honed human reflexes to the ninja in hiding at the property line of the next house. Then in perfect, unspoken accord, she and her partner slipped unseen over the balcony railing. They dropped the three easy feet from the edge to the ground below and, as one, melted into the shadows of the landscaping, shedding their party clothing and assuming the rest of their ninja attire as they made their way to their rented house.

Temari let Itachi give a barely audible warning as they approached Matsuri in her appointed hiding place. She looked up at the new arrivals, then right back to the house. "It's going down," the young woman whispered, her own excitement evident in the taut lines of her slender body. "Lights have been going on and off all over the house in a systematic way and three wagons just backed up to the service entrance in the back. Should we go _now?_"

A strong affirmative quivered on the edges of Temari's lips behind the mask now covering the lower half of her face, her muscles already tensed and ready. "We go now," Itachi said decisively. She sprang into motion, her partner on her right and her lady's maid on her left. Like the shadows of clouds cast by the dim moonlight, they ghosted across the intervening distance, knowing their actions were being mirrored by other teams of Sand ninja at all the targeted houses. She pulled out her bladed fans and unfurled them, not needing to check the rest of the weapons hidden on her person. Her fingers flexed around the grips as her heartbeat sped up with each passing second, each passing step-

Half-shrouded electric lanterns cast a muted pool of light around the service entrance of the house. Shadowy forms shifted between it and the waiting wagons, movements slow and encumbered on the outbound trip, lighter on the return to the house. She heard Itachi draw a deeper breath before he called out in a stern, strong voice, "We are ninja from Suna, and your activities here are _over_!" An instant later she heard his words echoed back from the other team approaching the front of the house. All activity ceased for a frozen instant of uncomprehending shock-

The night exploded into a frenzy of sound and motion. Many of the figures dropped or cast aside their loads, or scurried frantically out of the ninja's paths, shouting incoherent denials of guilt; even as others, roaring in defiance, leapt to meet their charge, weapons in hand. Adrenaline singing a fierce cadence along her veins, Temari plunged into an exhilarating dance of attack and defense; of thrust, parry and retreat before re-engaging her foes. She whirled and dodged, the glitter of her bladed fans tracing deadly patterns around her, her feet flying when necessary in equally lethal counterpoint, taking down enemy after enemy. On some distant level she registered the fatally elegant play of Itachi's _dao_ sword, as well as Matsuri's less refined but dogged work with her _bō_ staff; the sounds of conflict coming their way from inside the house-

And then, with breathtaking suddenness, it was over. Temari straightened from her final crouch, becoming aware as she did of several sore spots and a shallow cut on one forearm, though she retained no memory of when the injuries actually occurred. Her eyes sought for Itachi, and found him relaxing from his last strike and thrust, the bright edges of his twin blades now looking sticky and dull. She looked for Matsuri next, just as the brown-haired woman grounded one end of her staff and leaned heavily against it.

She felt someone's gaze on her and turned to meet Itachi's eyes above his own mask. Reading in them the same mixture of weariness and triumph she knew to be in her own, she bent her head to him in a single, slow nod as her lips turned up in a crooked grin.

The dreary aftermath of their operation began then. The dead were left as they were for the moment, as they herded everyone else into the main hall, where their compatriots were doing the same from the front and sides of the house. During the tedious process of weeding out the actual criminals from the traumatized staff who had been coerced by means of threats against their families into abetting the thieves, Temari allowed Matsuri to rig a temporary bandage out of the supplies she carried in a pouch at her waist.

"I wonder how our people fared at the other houses?" she murmured as her lady's maid tied off the end of the bandage.

"I'm sure they did just as well, milady," Matsuri murmured back as she tidied away her medical supplies.

At that moment Itachi came up to them, looking grim and tired. "Sara has been very helpful in sorting out the legitimate servants from the plants. That group over there," he nodded to a handful of battered, surly men guarded by several Suna ninja, "are the only members of the thieves' ring left alive here. Unfortunately, none of them are talking or naming names." He gestured then to her arm. "How bad is it?"

"Barely a flesh wound. Matsuri over-reacted," Temari replied, giving the girl a sideways smile to let her know she was teasing.

"So, are you ready to see how we fared elsewhere?" he asked next.

Sensing the myriad of eyes on their little group, Temari nodded and stood straighter, letting an air of confidence radiate from her. "Of course." She turned her head to one side. "Hideo!" she called to a burly ninja watching the situation from his post near one of the doors. "You're in charge until we get back. Matsuri," she lowered her voice and tipped her head slightly to where the crowd of servants stood glaring at the members of the ring, "I think it would be a good idea if we put some space between our prisoners and the servants. We don't want to give things a chance to get out of hand and have to use force against the civilians."

With that taken care of, she and Itachi went out the rear of their rented house and quietly retraced their steps back to the Hizuri's, where they passed unobserved under the balcony and across the heavily landscaped swath of land to the property beyond, the estate being rented by Hiro and Juuri, where Soichiro reported results similar to their own: none of the thieves still living seemed willing to betray their leader. It was the same at the other six targeted mansions. All their teams had been successful in taking down their parts of the ring, with only minor injuries to themselves; but also in each instance, none of the survivors were pointing any fingers.

As they made their way back to the Hizuri's, Itachi looked irritated, an emotion Temari didn't usually associate with the typically restrained Uchiha. She had a feeling she knew exactly what had him so out of temper - without capturing the leaders of the ring, their mission would not be a complete success.

"We need to split up and isolate the survivors as soon as possible," he said as they passed through yet another overly-ornate garden. "It'll be much harder for the weaker ones to maintain their defiance away from the rest of the group."

"I agree," Temari said, looking ahead to the brightly lit mansion where Kuon and Kyoko's party was still in full swing. She unconsciously sighed. "I'm really not looking forward to this part. But they need to know what's happened so they won't be going home to the shock of their lives. Especially in Rima's condition."

"Like having two ninja show up is a perfectly ordinary occurrence. Do we go in the front door, or the way we left?"

Despite her fatigue, Temari breathed out a hint of a laugh. "What, just dramatically materialize out of the darkness of the balcony? We aren't trying to cause a stampede, you know." Hyperaware of him in a way she'd not been before they'd started this blasted mission, she sensed the smile she couldn't see. Gooseflesh rippled up her arms, across her shoulders and neck, and then down her spine. _Do you have to walk so closely?_

Seemingly oblivious to her reaction, he nodded. "Front door it is, then," he said amiably.

Together they mounted the stone steps and entered, crossing the large foyer to mount the stairs to the next floor. They passed startled servants who drew out of their way in confusion and clustered into whispering knots behind them. Each perfectly aware of the imposing, intimidating sight they presented, they paused just inside the wide doorway leading into the ballroom, watching impassively as in the span of mere seconds all motion stilled and silence fell like a blanket over the entire room.

Temari scanned the crowd of faces in front of her, feeling the weight of more than a hundred pairs of eyes on her. "It's all right," she called out, holding her empty hands away from her sides in a nonthreatening gesture. "I promise, we're not here to hurt you."

Next to her Itachi assumed the same position. Despite being swathed from head to toe in a ninja's traditional clothing, his eyes as black as his attire, he somehow managed to appear oddly gentle even with the hilt of his _dao_ sword clearly visible over his shoulder and the other weapon holsters strapped at waist and leg. "We are ninja sent here from Suna to shut down the ring of thieves operating out of the Land of Gems. Many of you may be familiar with the band who has been attacking travelers nearby, as well as on other roads leading into and out of here. One last final heist was planned tonight. While everyone was at the party, they planned to rob you all blind."

His words wrung gasps out of every single throat in the room. Itachi held up one placating hand, however, preventing any questions from breaking out as he went on. "The good news is we already knew about this, and were in position to take down this ring as they went about their business tonight."

Kuon, standing near the front of the crowd with his wife peering around his arm, asked the obvious question. "What's the bad news?"

Clearing her throat, Temari took over from Itachi. "We currently have all the thieves in custody, and are working to discover the leaders of the ring. But we had to wait to catch the thieves in action before we could separate them out from the innocent servants they'd been hiding among, so things in your homes might be a little - _disorganized_. However those who did _not_ rent homes along Millionaire's Row are unaffected by the thieves, and should be able to return home to business as usual."

Turning to face their guests, Kuon and Kyoko quietly thanked everyone for coming, and those who had rented the smaller, unstaffed houses left, leaving only those Itachi and Temari singled out as directly impacted by the thieves, plus the Hizuri.

Temari's eyes drifted from face to face, recognizing each as those with whom she'd become acquainted - some more closely than others - over her relatively short time on "holiday." Senri and Rima, Kanae and Yukahito, Kuon and Kyoko, Kurebayashi Tasuku and Teru; some others she remembered meeting at other parties, but could not remember names to go with the shocked and concerned faces staring at her and Itachi.

Something, however, was not right. Brow wrinkling in confusion under her headcloth, she slowly allowed her gaze to sweep over the group once again.

She and Itachi noticed the problem at the exact same time. Turning to each other, their eyes silently asked the same question neither of them dared voice.

_Where are Hiro and Juuri?_

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ Sadly, we're coming close to the end of this particular story arc (it's so much fun to write!), but I promise we're not close to the end of the story yet! This chapter was both fun and a real pain to write, and it's thanks to the efforts of my wonderful beta, _Mama Jo_, that it didn't drive me crazy. She helped me out with some of the more minute and difficult details, and helped keep everyone and everything straight. That's part of the reason why this update is a day late (sorry)... Hopefully the next chapter will be a little more on time! Until then, thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you again next update!

**BONUS WINNER:** Firstly, thank you to _everyone_ who competed in last chapter's competition. I loved reading all of your guesses - some of which were real surprises! - but the winner, who correctly guessed the identity of the mole in Itachi and Temari's house is ... _greetingsfrommaars_! Though Shino was the mole, some of you also took a crack at guessing who Sasuke was talking to earlier in the chapter. For everyone who guessed Tenten (a lot of you!), you were right, too! _Greetingsfrommaars_, please PM me with your choice of NejiTen, GaaHina, or ItaMari, and your desired plot. Thanks again to everyone who entered!


	16. Leap of Faith

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _greetingsfrommaars_, _Guest (1)_, _rao hyuga 18_, _McKazekage_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _Halestrom_, _Clovergirl100_, and _Guest (2)_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites and follows lists - I appreciate every single one of you so much!

**Author's Note:** Apologies for the _super-late_ chapter! I intended to update much earlier, but life just suddenly went kind of crazy for a while, and I didn't have a chance to until now. I especially hate how long I made you all wait since I left you with such a cliffhanger... But I'll let you get on to reading now. Thank you so much for your patience, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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***~Chapter XV~***

_~Leap of Faith~_

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They had been duped so badly it wasn't even _funny_.

Itachi caught a glimpse of the thunderous look in Temari's eyes and knew her line of thought followed his to the letter. Hiro and Juuri's conveniently being missing at the same time most of the houses on Millionaire's Row were being robbed shouted a message too clear to be ignored.

It seemed they'd found their ringleaders - just not in time to apprehend them.

_Wonderful_.

After strongly admonishing those left at the Hizuri's mansion to remain where they were until further notice, Itachi and Temari made a quick round of the other houses before returning to their own residence, just to see if their colleagues' questioning of their prisoners had yielded any results. Neither of them honestly thought they'd get any relevant information so soon, but they certainly couldn't leave any stone unturned.

"I bet that little witch is laughing up her sleeve, thinking she's so smart," Temari muttered darkly as they left Hiro and Juuri's rented residence. "Having their own place cleaned out at the same time as the others as a decoy must've seemed such a _cute_ idea-"

"I doubt either one of them is laughing very hard right now," Itachi replied. "I'm more concerned with how they knew to make their getaway like this. Did some action of ours, like slipping out onto the balcony and staying there so long, somehow tip them off and allow them to get such a jump on us?"

He felt her unseen scowl deepen. "Don't remind me." She increased her pace. "We need to get back and squeeze some information out of the leftover scum."

And _that_ raised a question in Itachi's mind. Ninja of the Leaf did not employ torture in their interrogations. But he'd heard whispered rumors about ninja of the Sand not being so fastidious. He slipped a glance toward Temari. Whether or not the whispers were true, would she, as a victim of torture herself, consider using it?

As if she'd heard his thoughts, she added abruptly, "Whatever you've heard about Suna is probably wrong." Her eyes gleamed faintly, eerily, in the dim starlight as they briefly turned in his direction. "Well, mostly. Nowadays at least."

As Itachi pondered the ambiguity of her words, they reached their destination to find a much different scene than when they'd left. The regular staff had been allowed to return to their own quarters within the building, while the survivors from the thieves' ring had been sequestered under observation and heavy guard.

"Good job, Hideo, Matsuri," Temari said, the corners of her eyes crinkling in approval. "This saves us some time. Who do you estimate to be the mostly likely to crack, given a little encouragement?"

"We've actually identified two candidates, milady," Matsuri answered.

"Though having said that, 'most likely' is a pretty relative term," Hideo cautioned. "We've just observed more overtly nervous mannerisms in them than in the others."

"All it takes is one tiny opening." Temari looked to Itachi. "What do you think? Play them off each other, or go after them separately?"

Itachi took a brief moment to weigh the pros and cons of each approach. "Separately, I think," he decided. He looked to the other two ninja. "I assume you have a room set aside for interrogations?"

"We do, Master Itachi. This way."

In their absence a small withdrawing had been cleared of its lavish furnishings, the stark bareness of the chamber now contrasting with the elegant backdrop of wallpaper and drapes. After approving the setup, they waited for the shakier of the two prisoners to be brought in. "So, which role do you want to play?" he asked idly.

Temari flashed him a look that absolutely brimmed with wickedness. Chuckling throatily, she said, "Oh, considering how frustrated and impatient I am right now, I'm _definitely_ the bad ninja, don't you agree?" She went on so low under her breath Itachi barely heard her, "The little twerp had better cave fast, or I just _might_ be tempted to go old-school on him."

_She _is_ just joking - blowing off a little verbal steam - isn't she?_ went through Itachi's mind at the same moment the door opened again. Hideo and Matsuri shoved a man stumbling into the room. "Here's a little something for you to play with," the former said before closing him in the room with his team leaders.

The thief - a passably goodlooking man in his midtwenties, Itachi estimated - caught his balance and stood glaring defiantly at them, until Temari began a slow, silent prowl around him. Then his eyes nearly strained from their sockets as he turned them and his head in an attempt to keep both her and Itachi in view. In addition, the man's slightly hunched posture, the rapid flaring of his nostrils, betrayed an inner uncertainty to Itachi's ninja-trained eyes. His and Temari's subordinates had chosen well.

"We know Hiro and Juuri are the head of your little ring," Itachi said, calmly but sternly and without preamble. "They have fled, leaving you and what remains of your gang to bear the full brunt of the consequences for your lawless behavior. Just as is happening here, in all the other targeted houses our associates are questioning other members of the ring. You surely must know all those who have suffered the loss of loved ones and property at your hands are clamoring for justice. Whoever gives us any _useful_ information about where your former leaders are headed will be left to stand trial for your actions in a location _without_ a death penalty."

The man's nervous dark eyes darted from trying to see Temari, whose silently threatening presence now hovered directly behind him, to the sword hilt visible over Itachi's shoulder, to the bank of windows along the room's outer wall. Sweat visibly beaded along his hairline and dribbled down his face, soaking quickly into the neck of his shirt. "I-I d-don't know-" he started to stammer.

Temari moved so fast Itachi's eyes barely tracked her advance. Whipping one of her bladed fans out of its holster at her waist, she pressed it lightly against the man's throat, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Want to rethink that?" she demanded, her voice a menacing purr.

Behind his mask, Itachi bit the inside of his lower lip to suppress his smile. Temari hadn't been kidding when she said she felt impatient.

The man's cheeks went from florid red to parchment white in only a few seconds. His Adam's apple bobbed visibly as he gulped; he stopped mid-move when one of the sharp points on Temari's fan pricked his skin, bringing a bead of bright red blood to the surface. "Wh-what makes you think I would kn-know-" he started to croak, but Temari's snarl cut him off. Half a heartbeat later, her other hand also held a fan; the points of which, Itachi saw with a kind of uneasy interest, pushed lightly against another part of the thief's anatomy a precise distance below his belt.

"Normally," she growled, "I like to take the time to _enjoy_ playing with my toys. But you just happened to catch me on a really bad day. _Where_ are Hiro and Juuri running to?"

The man's eyes rolled desperately to look at Itachi over her shoulder. "You - you're a man!" he gasped. "You c-can't let her _do_ this!" The final word came out as a squeak when she applied a little more pressure.

Itachi shrugged. He felt fairly confident Temari wouldn't hurt the man - at least not _too_ badly - so he wasn't worried. The only thing really endangering the villian was what appeared to be the imminent possibility of him passing out. "She's not overly fond of men, you know," he said with cool indifference. "She only tolerates me because I'm her partner. If I were you, I'd tell her what she wants to know."

"Trust me, you'll get no help from that quarter," Temari confirmed, eyes gleaming almost like a cat's. "The only way you're getting out of this is if you give us some answers. Did I mention I'm in a really foul mood tonight?" Her wrist twisted subtly.

The thief wavered for a moment more. Then, "All right, all right!" The words tumbled out of him desperately as he locked eyes with the Uchiha. "I'll tell you - but only _you_! Please, get this crazy woman away from me!"

Temari pulled back both of her fans, snapping the one that had been at his throat shut a hairsbreadth from his nose, making him jump. Tapping the tip of the closed fan on that appendage, she said with fake sweetness, "Good choice." She looked at Itachi over her shoulder. "He's all yours, partner. I'll be directly outside, just in case you need me." Crossing to the door she opened it, wiggled the fingers of her free hand in a wave, then departed.

Itachi allowed his hand to dangle pointedly next to the kunai pouch strapped to his leg, letting the man know though Temari had left, he still couldn't rest easy - so he'd better follow through on his end of the deal. "All right, talk."

The robber looked at him with glazed eyes. "The L-land of B-birds," he forced out. "I made it a p-point to get real close to J-Juuri's maid. She overheard them talking once - about their hideout - in - L-land - of Birds-" Legs abruptly going out from under him, he landed awkwardly on his hands and knees. His whole body shuddered as he retched. He never noticed when Itachi slipped silently out of the room and Hideo took his place.

"The Land of Birds," Temari repeated thoughtfully when Itachi rejoined her in the hallway leading back to the front of the house. "That's several days north of here, closer to the mountains - certainly obscure enough and far enough off the beaten path to make a good place to hide out. It's a quiet, peaceful place that certainly doesn't deserve having the likes of Hiro and that witch Juuri descend upon it."

Itachi cocked an invisible brow at her. "Sounds as though you're familiar with it," he remarked half-questioningly.

She twitched her shoulders in a token shrug. "I was sent there once on another undercover mission. It'll help that I already know the _daimyo_, Lady Toki, and her advisor Chishima. They'll be glad to give us any assistance we might need. Still, though," her tone suddenly deepened with frustration, "it's going to be _hours_ before we can take off after them. We've got so many ticky-tack little details to see to first - like gathering reports from the other units so we can decide who gets sent where to stand trial; not to mention arranging for the disposal of all the bodies."

Itachi felt the passing time chafe across his nerves like sand against his skin. "The latter we can delegate," he said. "For the rest, we'd better get busy."

* * *

By the time they were ready to set off with only Soichiro and Matsuri to accompany them, dawn was opening its gauzy veils of rose and gold in the eastern sky. Once again dressed in ordinary clothing they set a steady but not brutal pace, knowing they needed to conserve their horses. As Temari had suspected, Mayonaka proved himself to be the perfect mount for Itachi as they traveled, responding instantly to Itachi's every cue. He also possessed the speed to match Kazedansu's, even promising to surpass it, if given half a chance. Soichiro and Matsuri's geldings, though not as fast, kept up admirably as the foursome pushed along, stopping only when absolutely necessary for water, rest, and food.

Very few small villages lay along their route. They stopped just long enough in each to confirm that a couple matching Hiro and Juuri's description had indeed passed through several hours ahead of them. As they pressed on, the temperature cooled the closer they got to the Land of Birds, making Temari supremely glad they'd taken the time to pack heavier cloaks. After wrapping up, they continued their journey, feeling heartened since they were less than a day's ride out from their destination now.

As dusk deepened into darkness on their fourth day of travel, the four Suna ninja finally reached the Land of Birds, going directly to the _daimyo_'s relatively modest dwelling. When the guards recognized Temari, they led the small group directly to a small receiving room where they were soon joined by Lady Toki and her advisor, Chishima.

"Temari!" The petite Toki greeted the Suna ninja with a hug, which the blonde tolerated with a stiff smile. Often shy, Toki relaxed with those she considered absolutely trustworthy, though Temari would never get used to the other woman's exuberant displays of friendship. "It's so wonderful that you've returned to the Land of Birds." Her eyes drifted to the trio behind Temari, and she tilted her head with regal grace in their direction. "Who are your friends?"

"My fellow Suna nin on this mission," Temari replied dutifully. Turning, she indicated each ninja with a tilt of her head as she introduced them. "Uchiha Itachi, Tanaka Matsuri, and Nishikori Soichiro." The three all bowed deferentially. Noticing a hint of appreciation in Itachi's eyes as he did so, she shoved aside the spark of jealousy which ignited inside her chest at the sight, since she had neither the time nor the desire to see it further fanned. After all, she _was absolutely positively not_ interested in Uchiha Itachi.

_There is only the mission. Do _not_ allow yourself to get distracted._ With that in mind, Temari firmly turned her attention back to the _daimyo_. Bowing even more deeply, she said, "Lady Toki, we are here in pursuit of two criminals who led a gang of bandits in terrorizing the Land of Gems and its surroundings. We crave your assistance in bringing them both to justice."

"Of course you shall have it," Lady Toki responded instantly. She beckoned her advisor, who had been listening with a smile, forward. "All you need to do is explain what you need to Chishima. While he accomplishes it, please refresh yourselves as the evening meal is prepared, and then take it with me."

"That would be most welcome," Temari replied, the heat of the chase simmering in her breast dimming slightly at the prospect of relaxing even briefly. Badly as she wanted to get this wrapped up, she knew she and the others would be better prepared to complete their mission if they took this opportunity to rest themselves.

Shortly before midnight, a servant came to summon Temari and the others to the receiving room again. Chishima knelt to one side and slightly to the rear of Lady Toki, looking tired but pleased. Once the Suna ninja had taken their places facing them, the _daimyo_ gestured to her advisor.

"The people in question did indeed arrive only a few hours before yourselves," he said. "Their house is on this side of the lake, but farther down in a rather isolated spot. A lot of trees and such surround it, so you shouldn't be spotted quickly as you come up on it."

"Actually," Lady Toki put in, "they've made their home in the same place you did your last visit. Would you like me to send some of my own people out with you?"

Temari bowed slightly. "Thank you, Lady Toki, for your kind offer, but I think it's best if we handle this ourselves."

Toki dismissed them then, and Temari led the small group outside, mind still spinning and working. She pulled up a mental picture of the place, noting every hint of cover from every direction and which path would be their best bet. Surely it couldn't have changed much - in fact, it had probably grown thicker - so the advantage clearly lay with the Suna ninja. Of that, Temari felt certain.

"What do you think is our best plan of action?" Itachi asked as the four paused in the courtyard to form their plan of attack. Although technically joint leaders of the mission, Temari felt relieved he seemed to be bowing to her knowledge of the lay of the land.

Lifting one hand, she bit the tip of her thumbnail, eyes narrow as she concentrated. "There are several ways we can approach the house, but the best way - in my opinion - would be head on." She knew the instant the words left her mouth what her teammates' reactions would be, but her resolve did not waver. She _knew_ that place. Even if Hiro and Juuri anticipated being followed, they had no way of knowing the land as well as she. That would be to their disadvantage.

Itachi arched one questioning eyebrow, obviously making a concentrated effort to hide his doubt. "Head on?" he asked. Soichiro and Matsuri's expressions mirrored Itachi's, though neither one voiced their misgivings.

Her hand dropped from her mouth so Temari could cross her arms over her chest. "Yes, head on," she repeated with a scowl. "It may have been a few years since I was last here, but I know the house in question rather well. The foliage is very dense at the front of the house. The closer to the lake it gets at the sides and back, the thinner the cover gets. So the front of the house is our best chance of approaching unseen." Irritation shivered up and down her spine, little claws digging gleefully into her already shredded nerves.

Itachi seemed to think about it for a moment, then tilted his head in her direction with a veiled smile. "I'll follow your lead." Matsuri and Soichiro echoed his sentiment with firm nods, as if they'd not just been questioning her two minutes beforehand.

"Thank you," she said, a brittle cast to her tone. Temari spun on her heel and led them away from the _daimyo_'s residence. They kept to the shadows, avoiding the most traveled routes through the village even though the streets were basically deserted due to the late hour. The only sounds came from nocturnal insects and wildlife - whirrs, chirrups, and howls which only served to gnaw at Temari's nerves further.

They approached the cozy two-story house from the left, easing their way closer and closer through the ever-thickening trees. Temari allowed her feet to fall confidently, hardly without even looking. How often had she taken this very same path during her last mission in the Land of Birds? Certainly more times than she could count. As she'd suspected, things had changed slightly, but not enough to make a considerable difference, or impede the sureness of her progress. Behind her, she sensed Itachi, Matsuri, and Soichiro following directly in her footsteps. Reassured they trusted her that far, at least, she led them to the little break in the trees right next to the path leading up from the road.

The house blazed with light, golden radiance spilling from every window and forming rectangular shapes on the small patch of cleared grass directly in front of the structure. Inside, two shadows passed back and forth in front of the windows - one tall and clearly male, the other smaller and easily distinguishable as female: Hiro and Juuri.

As far as Temari could tell, they were alone in the house. Undoubtedly they were resting up and trying to decide what their next course of action should be: Stay in the Land of Birds and possibly be caught by anyone following them, or move on to some other place?

Regardless, Temari and the others would have to make their move tonight. "All right, here's the plan," she said softly, her breath fogging in front of her in the chilly night air. "Soichiro and Itachi, you go in from the front of the house. Matsuri, we'll take the back. Those are the only two ways into or out of the house - no doors on either side."

"How long do we wait at our position until breaking in, milady?" Soichiro asked.

Temari's lips twisted into a sardonic smile. "Give it a good ten-count. That should be more than adequate."

"_Hai_." Soichiro nodded his understanding.

Squinting up at the misty moon visible through miniscule breaks in the branches above, Temari let out a long breath. "Give Matsuri and myself five extra seconds to get to the back door, then count to ten and burst in. Is everyone clear on the plan?" After receiving affirming nods, she stood and nodded to Matsuri. "Okay, everyone - break!"

Ignoring the chill in the air and the warring sensations of heated anticipation and frozen apprehension in her stomach, Temari led the way around the back of the house. Matsuri stayed right on her heels as the blonde chose a patch of shadow between two windows and crept up to the house, her soft-soled shoes making no sound on the wooden decking as they approached the door. Drawing out several shuriken, she spaced them between her fingers in preparation to throw as she nodded to Matsuri, who stood with her back against the wall next to the door and her hand on the latch, ready to throw it open at her superior's signal.

_Three... Two... One..._

They opened the door silently, allowing Itachi and Soichiro's entrance at the front to make all the noise. Temari silently counted down from five in her head, not even surprised she'd barely made it to two before a pair of familiar figures - dressed completely in black, just like those from Suna - came roaring around the corner toward the back door-

-Skidded to a halt when they saw the ninja waiting for them there.

"Good evening, Hiro. Juuri." Though Temari's words were pleasant, her tone and the glitter in her teal eyes were anything but. "I think you both should have realized by now that your scheme has run its course and is now at its end - _and_ that you both are going away for a very, very long time: If you're even allowed to live after all you've done."

Hiro, predictably, lashed out first. Matsuri reacted instantly, her tiny stature allowing her to slide in close to her much larger opponent and engage him faster than he'd anticipated, throwing him off balance. Juuri came after Temari. Scoffing under her breath, the blonde easily avoided the brunette's furious lunge, nicking the woman's cheekbone with a shuriken on her way past. Shrieking with fury, Juuri whirled back, eyes wild with rage and hatred, one hand curled into a fist, the other clutching a wickedly large, sharp knife.

Replacing the shuriken in her pouch, Temari smoothly produced her bladed fans. "You don't want to take me on, Juuri," she warned. "I can guarantee you'll lose. Badly."

"We'll see about that!" Instead of charging forward, Juuri spun and ran, leaving her husband to Matsuri's not-so-tender, but still quite capable, care.

Cursing for not having seen the other woman's cowardly move coming, Temari took off after her. She reached the doorway just in time to see a shadow rise up in front of Juuri; the woman's knife flashed with a sweep of silver that left a darkly glistening trail in its wake, and then she was running again.

Temari cast a glance at the fallen shadow as she passed - Soichiro, dazed and bloody but still conscious enough to wave her on - and wondered where Itachi could possibly be. He and Soichiro should have shown up at the same time! Could the Uchiha possibly be proving himself to be untrustworthy, after all?

Either way, she didn't have time to think about it just now. Juuri led her on a chase - the woman was _fast_, almost inhumanly so! - outdistancing her to the dock by the lake, where the brunette, crouching in a small rowboat, busily hacked away at the thick rope anchoring it to the dock. It snapped just as Temari's foot hit the first board on the dock. Juuri gave a mighty shove, sending the boat gliding out into the clear water, bathed in silvery moonlight.

Even though the idea terrified her, even though she wanted to scream and run, even though everything inside her warned her it was a bad idea, Temari did the only logical thing: She pushed off from the very edge of the dock and launched herself into the air, aiming for the front of the boat, which was still _just_ within reach...

For a moment she remained airborne, almost floating through the air as if in slow motion. She saw Juuri's eyes widen, her lips part in a silent scream, and the way one hand grappled with an oar even as the other reached for a weapon...

Temari landed in the boat, which rocked precariously but did not upset upon impact. Barely waiting for the craft to right itself, she dove for Juuri, the sharp points of her bladed fans glinting in the moonlight almost as brightly as the edge of the other woman's knife as it, too, came up for a blow.

The fans whipped across Juuri's chest, the woman jerking backwards just in time to keep the blades from penetrating too deeply. At the same moment, Temari felt a strange tug at her side; however she refused to take the time to register the inevitable pain which followed. Instead, she pressed her attack, once again lunging for Juuri, who rapidly scrambled towards the back of the boat, now missing her knife.

_Crack!_

The sound came - strangely - from directly beneath Temari's feet. At the same moment, the bottom of the boat seemed to wrench itself in two, plunging both her and Juuri into the frigid waters of the lake. As the icy liquid poured into her nose and mouth, robbing Temari of both logic and breath, Juuri's dark figure surged up from below and reached out for her.

Without thinking, Temari lashed out, then firmly pressed her feet into the other woman's stomach to give herself a push to the surface, every move fueled by sheer panic. Lungs screaming, the edges of her vision greying, Temari broke the surface with a gasp, desperately kicking her feet and flailing her arms in an attempt to remain afloat. Blood tinged the dark water all around her, spreading across the surface like an unfurling bloom.

Movement back toward the dock drew her attention in that direction; to the bedraggled, dripping figure hauling herself - _herself?_ - out of the water.

_Juuri. But if she's there, then who did I...?_

Dark hair. Dark clothes. Dark eyes. Beneath the surface of the lake, and in her panicked state, the two had looked remarkably alike... She had lashed out without thinking, without taking the time to verify her target as the intended one...

_Oh no. Please, please no. Please tell me I didn't just kill..._

"..._Itachi!_"

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ I am _so_ sorry for this _super-late_ update! I intended to update much earlier than this, but my life just kind of went crazy for a while, and I'm only just now getting caught up enough to get this up. I hated having to make you all wait so long, especially considering the cliffhanger I left you with last time! Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter up _much_ sooner. In the meanwhile, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy!


	17. Consequences

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _rao hyuga 18_, _Guest_, _big boss_, _McKazekage_, and _greetingsfrommaars_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added and continues to add this story to their favorites and alerts. I love you all!

**Author's Note:** Again, so sorry for the late update! The last couple of weeks of my life have been _really_ stressful, and sadly writing kind of had to take a back seat to everything else going on. But I finally found the time to update this - and thank goodness! I felt so terrible, leaving you all on that cliffhanger for so long. Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope this chapter was worth the wait!

* * *

***~Chapter XVI~***

_~Consequences~_

* * *

When Temari slammed her feet against his midriff and shoved, what little stored breath Itachi had left rushed out into the blood-streaked water in front of his face in a long stream of bubbles. As she rocketed toward the surface, he sank, lungs seizing, eyes bulging, fresh injuries screaming.

_She attacked me!_ Still reeling from the shock of seeing Temari leap from the dock into the boat (she _hated_ water, what in the world had prompted her to pull such a crazy stunt?), her vicious assault when he'd been coming to help her completely, dangerously, shut him down. _She _attacked_ me!_

Itachi's feet struck the bottom of the lake. At the same moment, his lungs unseized and began to beg for air. Galvanized out of his stupefaction, he pushed himself off the rocky bottom, kicking and propelling himself ever-upwards until his head broke the surface. Instantly, he sucked down gasp after gasp of sweet air through the soggy fabric clinging to the lower half of his face, his various hurts and the chilly water barely registering in his mind, because he could _breathe_ again!

...The fiery, clawing catch in his side not withstanding. A couple of his ribs were at least very badly bruised, if not cracked; but he'd deal with those later.

Across the intervening stretch of silver-dappled black water, he saw Juuri hauling herself up onto the dock, dripping from head to toe and madder than a wet cat. So much for _that_ plan going the way he'd intended...

Between him and the dock, Temari's cloth covered head showed matte black in the moonlight as she bobbed up and down in the water. The only sounds coming from her were coughing chokes as she went down and came back up, along with the splashing of her arms as she flailed about trying to keep herself afloat. Itachi immediately launched himself towards her, breath-stealing pain tearing through him with each stroke he made. When he finally approached his partner, he paused just out of reach.

"Temari! Calm down!" He half-gasped, half-shouted the words, knowing he needed to get her attention so she'd stop floundering wildly. The last thing either of them needed was for her to wallop or slice at him again.

Her head went under once more. This time, she didn't bob straight back to the surface. Itachi's muttered curse cut off abruptly as he sucked in a sharp breath and dove after her. Straining to see through the weak moonbeams sifting through the dark water, he caught her trailing arm as she began to succumb to the chill of the water. With a desperate surge of adrenaline-fueled strength, he hauled them both back to the surface. Hooking his arm around the half-unconscious Temari's chest, just under her arms, he towed her to the shore.

"Juuri," Temari choked, feebly trying to help Itachi pull her up onto the grassy bank, ignoring the dock. "Got to-" She broke off, yanking her mask down as she doubled over and coughed up a lot of the water she'd swallowed. "Ick," she croaked.

At least she wasn't totally freaking out on him like last time they'd been in a lake together. That was certainly a welcome improvement. "Are - you - okay?" he demanded anxiously between hitching breaths. As far as he was concerned, Juuri could wait. Keeping Temari from possibly going into another full-blown panic attack ranked much higher on his list of Important Things.

Temari stared at him with feverish, frantic teal eyes. "Am _I_ okay?" she gasped, still sounding half-strangled. "What about _you_?"

Just as Itachi opened his mouth to reply, Matsuri approached from the direction of the house, half-dragging the still-wet, still-mad, but now partially dazed Juuri with her. "Lose something, milady?" she asked, blinking at the sight of the equally soaked Itachi and Temari as if surprised to see them wet, too.

Rising shakily to her feet, Temari took a couple of staggering steps over to Juuri. She drew back her hand and cracked her open palm across the other woman's cheek. "_That's_ for running," she snarled. She repeated the smack backhanded across Juuri's other cheek, adding, "And _that's_ for my partner." Spinning, she left the even _more_ dazed woman with the stunned Matsuri and limped back to Itachi, a satisfied smirk on her tired, pale features.

When she halted in front of him, though, horror flicked through her eyes. She stretched out a hand towards his face and the hanging flaps of his mask. "Itachi, you're bleeding!"

Remembering the swipe Temari had taken at him with her fans, he reached up with both hands to feel his face. Little rivulets of water still snaked across his forehead and temples from his soaked headcloth and hair; but down towards his nose, just under his eyes and crossing his cheekbones, he felt the slick stickiness of blood. When he pulled his hands away, his eyes widened at the amount coating his fingers. _She got me better than I thought!_

As if in agreement, his ribs throbbed, reminding him of his pain in _that_ area, too. "I'm fine," he said automatically if untruthfully. "We need to wrap up here, then send a message to your brother that we've successfully completed our mission." _And then,_ he thought ruefully, _perhaps find a healer._

_...But only after Temari's not around._

* * *

Temari scrubbed her still-wet, but now clean, hair dry with a towel. With Hiro and Juuri safely tucked away in the cells beneath Lady Toki's house under heavy guard, Itachi had escorted Soichiro to a healer to have the deep slash across his chest examined. And, she thought guiltily, probably his own wounds, too. Besides the blood on his face - _too much blood_ - she'd noticed the way he gingerly held himself erect, which told her he had cracked, if not outright broken, ribs. Would he tell her the truth if she asked him, though? She wasn't sure.

Allowing her arms to drop and the towel to dangle limply at her side, Temari stared sightlessly through the nearest window of sitting room in the suite she and Matsuri shared, which overlooked the lake. Once she realized what she was seeing, however, she shivered and turned away from the view, not wanting the reminder.

_How_ could she have mistaken Itachi for Juuri? Despite the fact they both had black hair and wore dark clothing, they were so disparate in appearance: Juuri tiny with a kind of wiry strength; Itachi tall and radiating pure masculinity, muscular but not at all bulky. Quite _obviously_ not a female.

_What's the matter with me?_ Grinding her teeth, Temari threw the towel across the room, relieved when it missed the beautiful jade dragon statue atop the table right next to where the cloth impacted the wall. _I _completely_ lost all control out there. I nearly - no that's not right, I _did_ - let Juuri get away. I injured my partner. I let Juuri outsmart and outrun me. I am a complete failure!_ Winding her fingers through locks of her damp blonde hair, she tugged until her eyes watered with the pain that nearly overwhelmed the next thought to streak hotly through her mind. _Why am I such a failure at undercover missions now?!_

From the word _go_ this mission had shaken her, challenged her. In the end, she shamefully realized, she'd not been up to the task. While something good had come of it - she and Itachi understood each other much better now - the things which had gone wrong far outnumbered those which turned out right. Sinking to her knees in the middle of the floor, she pressed the palms of her hands against her knees and curled in on herself, hovering on the jagged edge of tears, feeling lower emotionally than she had in quite a long while.

This had been her chance to redeem herself after the abominable tragedy in Kiri. Had she come into this feeling too confident, perhaps? Or so determined to make her past wrongs right that she'd been blind to certain things she _should_ have done?

_What_ could she have done differently to make the mission turn out the way it was meant to have done?

And, more importantly, what could she do to make it right from here on out - and ensure she didn't do something wrong _again_, on the extremely slim chance she was sent out on another undercover mission?

Someone scratched on the door leading to the hall. Temari ignored it. When it repeated a few moments later, she lifted her head enough to look toward the door leading into Matsuri's bedroom. It remained closed - the brunette must have been so exhausted that she, after tending to the small, shallow cut on Temari's side, dropped straight onto the bed and fell into a sleep so deep she'd not wake for hours yet.

If only Temari could sleep the sleep of such innocence.

For a couple of fragile, wonderful days, she had. But, as with everything else, she'd screwed up again, and that reward had been snatched away once more.

Rising stiffly, Temari tiredly padded across the room and opened the door. It took a few seconds for her bleary eyes to focus on Itachi's face, since he stood in the shadows of the mostly dark hall.

He eyed her for a moment, but did not remark on what she knew must be her horrible appearance. "Soichiro will be fine," he said without preamble. "He needed ten stitches in his chest, but the healer we saw cleared him to travel day after tomorrow - or, well, I guess I should say tomorrow, since it's almost four in the morning now." His lips briefly twisted in a wry grin, but he couldn't quite hide the wince which followed before his expression smoothed to neutrality. "Which should work out well, considering I think we _all_ could use a day of rest before we head back to Suna."

Temari silently took note of the lines of neat butterfly bandages on his cheeks, bracketing his nose and coming dangerously close to the corners of his eyes. A slight bulge under his stiff shirt indicated the presence of bandaging there, too. "And you?" she asked hoarsely. Good though it was to hear Soichiro would be all right, _he_ wasn't the person she felt so wildly anxious to know about.

Itachi's unfathomably deep, dark eyes flickered. "Could've been worse - at least I didn't need stitches," he said, indicating the butterfly bandages. His expression of defeat made it clear he didn't want to admit any of it, but knew he needed to come clean with her. "Also two cracked ribs and four bruised." His lips kinked ruefully. "Along with a rather serious case of damaged pride."

Despite herself, a tired laugh escaped Temari's throat. "How can you be so blasé about this?" she asked, blinking hard to clear her eyes of traitorous tears. "I _attacked_ you. I _hurt_ you." Her hand reached of its own accord to touch one of the bandages on his face, but she yanked it back before she could make contact.

After all, everything she touched broke. No point in making it any worse.

Itachi's expression softened perceptibly. Swaying slightly to the left, he gazed past her into the room. "May I come in?" he asked politely. "We need to discuss this."

Even though Temari wanted very badly to slam the door in his face, then go wallow in her own emotional pain and guilt a while longer, she reluctantly stepped back and motioned for him to enter. Itachi was right, and she knew it. The sooner they discussed what happened in the lake, the better for both of them.

They settled on cushions across from each other, Temari facing the door into the room and the window through which she'd been gazing earlier at her back. She expelled a long, tired breath. "I'm sorry, Itachi," she said humbly. "I have no excuse for what I did down there. Just please know - I never meant to hurt _you_. I'm so sorry." She swallowed back the lump in her throat, unable to find any more words. There _were_ none to convey the depth of the guilt and sorrow she felt for what she'd done.

He shook his head at her. "I don't blame you, Temari. It was dark, you were underwater - not your best environment - it was an easy enough mistake to make." Itachi's expression remained carefully bland.

"You're just trying to make me feel better," Temari replied miserably.

Itachi's lips quirked upwards at the corners. "Is it working?" he asked hopefully.

Dredging up an apologetic smile, she shook her head. "Sorry, but not really."

"Hn. Well, it was worth a try." Sobering, Itachi met her gaze so intensely she couldn't drag her own away. Assured he had her attention, he continued, "Things _happen_, Temari. We are ninja, yes, but we are _not_ infallible. Sometimes things do go wrong, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. Even though, in this case-" He sighed, nervously rubbing his palms against the fabric covering his thighs. "It was entirely my fault."

A missing piece of the puzzle clicked into place in Temari's mind. "So _that's _where you went," she said. "I thought it was strange when only Soichiro showed up as backup."

"Yes. I knew if Hiro or Juuri or both managed to escape, they'd make for the lake. I saw the boat as I was coming around the side of the house, you see, so I sent Soichiro on ahead because I had an idea. I didn't have any time to let you know what I planned to do; I knew I had to act right then." His eyes darted across the room to the _dao_ sword he'd leaned against the wall next to the door when he'd come in. "I weakened the bottom of the boat, intending for it to flood and sink once it was weighted down." A laugh huffed out of him, and he shook his head. "What I _wasn't_ expecting was for you to come tearing across the dock on Juuri's heels and jump out fearlessly, like you expected to sprout wings and fly or something."

Heat crept up Temari's neck. "I was terrified," she admitted. "But I knew I had to stop her, and that was the only way I'd be able to do it. What _I_ wasn't expecting was for the boat to literally fall apart under me and dump me in the water." At least she'd managed to keep herself from completely going to pieces this time - once she was _out_ of the water, anyway. Her behavior _in_ the water, however, had been a different story entirely.

"Makes me wish I hadn't done that. But it seemed like such a good idea at the time..." Itachi shook his head, frowning.

"Things didn't go the way we expected - but in the end, somehow we wound up with the desired effect. We shut down the ring and can start getting the stolen goods back to the victims," she said solemnly, thinking about those who had not only lost their belongings - but their lives as well.

"Yes," Itachi agreed quietly, the same thought undoubtedly going through his own mind. "It will be a relief to have this mission behind us."

Though Temari essentially agreed, she couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment at his words. The mission had certainly had its downs, but there had definitely been ups, as well - at least in her opinion. Did he not see things the same way?

...Or perhaps he _did_ resent her injuring him, but was too much of a gentleman to say so. The possibility seemed stronger than she liked to think and sent a strange, sharp pain through her.

"I must admit, it will be nice to go home," she said bravely, not allowing any of her thoughts to show on her face. "Even though we missed the Founder's Festival, I can still get home in time for Gaara's birthday." _My little brother,_ she thought wistfully._ He'll only be seventeen, and yet he's had to go through so much in his life. But he's risen above all that - he's the leader of the village now, and engaged to be married at that._

"When we get back, if you want to focus on getting ready for that, I can finish clearing up everything with this mission myself," Itachi offered.

Mistrust flared in Temari's chest. "Don't think I can handle it?" Somehow she managed to keep her voice even, instead of snapping the question.

Itachi frowned, obviously bemused. "I didn't mean it that way at all. I just know if it were my brother's birthday, I'd want to devote as much time to preparations and spending time with him as I could. I didn't mean to offend you. My apologies."

Guilt niggled at Temari, making her feel like an unmitigated jerk. "I didn't mean to jump to conclusions," she replied. She remembered the expression on Itachi's face when he talked about his own younger brother. The fact she'd forced him to dredge all that up made her guilt even worse. "I'm the one who should apologize." _Curse it. This conversation isn't going anything like I thought it would._

An uncomfortable silence fell between them. The headache which had been slowly building over the course of the past few days spiked suddenly in a searing stab of pain. Sucking in a deep breath and squeezing her eyes shut, she pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. _Ouch._

"Are you okay?" Itachi's voice came from much closer than she expected; when her eyes flew open, she saw his concerned face hovering only a hand's length away from hers.

Startled, Temari snapped her head backwards, which did nothing to help her headache. "I'm fine," she said out of habit, far too quickly to be convincing. At Itachi's narrow-eyed, _I don't believe you_ stare, she sighed and confessed reluctantly, "Gaara and I are both prone to headaches, especially post high-stress situations. I'm actually surprised it held off this long." She waved one hand, trying to brush it off as no big deal. "Some pain pills, a good night's sleep, I'll be good as new in the morning." She and her brother each hated this shared weakness. They'd seen several healers in Suna, but discovered no way to prevent them from happening. They just had to deal with and try to manage the pain until it went away.

Itachi studied her expression for a moment longer before he leaned back and stood. "We can finish this conversation later. To be honest, I just want to take a dose of pain medicine, too, and get a good night's - well, I suppose in this case it would be _morning's_ - sleep myself." He moved stiffly but swiftly across the room and poured a glass of water from the carafe on the table in the corner, then came to hand it to her. "Here," he said. "Where is your pain medicine?"

Temari nodded to the small pack leaning against the wall between the door and his _dao_ sword. "In the emergency kit over there. I always carry a bit for situations such as this."

He retrieved the kit for her. "Will you be able to get yourself to bed okay?" he asked as he passed it over. "Should I wake Matsuri to help you?"

Temari got a mouthful of water, popped in a couple of pills, then swallowed. Shivering and making a face at the nasty taste, she took another drink before replying. "I promise I'll be fine. It takes about twenty minutes or so to kick in; plenty of time for me to crawl into bed. I'll see you later, all right?"

The tips of Itachi's fingers gently brushed the top of her head, sending strange, electric shivers down her spine, as he moved past her toward the door. "All right. Feel better." He picked up his _dao_ sword, then left.

However, despite what she'd told Itachi, Temari sat on her cushion for a long few minutes after he left, trying to sort out the strange feelings Itachi evoked in her - especially with such a simple touch.

* * *

Nearly two wearing, stress-filled weeks later, Itachi and Temari finally got back to Suna with Soichiro, Matusri, and their two prisoners in tow. To forestall any escape attempts, Hiro and Juuri were forced to walk a major portion of each day, which made the return trip longer than it could have been. But the four ninja, realizing the pair were a long way from submitting tamely to their fate, tacitly agreed keeping them too tired to try anything was the best route to go.

Since only a little over a week remained until Gaara's birthday upon their arrival home, Temari gratefully accepted Itachi's offer to finish wrapping up the mission himself so she could apply herself to preparations for the planned celebration. Two days after their return, he received a summons to Gaara's office. Gladly abandoning the tedious paperwork he'd been doing, he went straight up, expecting to see Temari there, too.

Instead, only Gaara waited for him, elbows on the desk, hands folded together in front of his face so they hid his mouth. His vivid green eyes and what part of his face Itachi could see were unreadable - the man had a talent for hiding what he was really thinking behind that blank expression.

"Lord Gaara." Itachi bowed respectfully, then seated himself in the chair the redhead indicated with a flicker of his eyes.

At last dropping his hands, Gaara leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "I received an interesting communiqué from Konoha today," he said, studying Itachi's expression intently. Itachi's mouth went dry as Gaara reached out and tapped one of the scrolls atop his desk with two fingers. "Lady Tsunade sent me a scroll which outlined the details of a mission they'd accepted in the Land of Gems - then abandoned when Suna ninja indicated they had the situation well in hand and were getting ready to move in and take down the ring themselves."

"A summary of the incident is included in my report," Itachi replied steadily. "If I may ask, did Konoha seem - _upset_ that Suna took care of the situation?" He wanted desperately to bring up Sasuke's name, but didn't dare, knowing it would only highlight the too-personal nature of the situation. Since other facets of the mission had gone so horribly wrong, he didn't really want that one to get out, too, unless absolutely necessary.

Gaara frowned slightly. "Evidently some of the members of the undercover team were unhappy to withdraw and let another village handle the situation, but the team leader - Hatake Kakashi - ultimately decided Suna was in a better position to complete the objective." Steepling his fingers, the leader of Suna stared over them at the scroll. "As gesture of goodwill, we will be sending Hiro to Konoha to be prosecuted there."

_At least Suna still has Juuri_, Itachi thought selfishly. "Very good, milord." He fell silent, somehow feeling Gaara intended to say more on the subject. And, since Temari was nowhere around, he felt sure that something had to do with Sasuke.

Picking up the scroll, Gaara unfurled it, eyes scanning quickly up and down until his gaze arrested on one particular bit. "It also says here one of the Konoha teammembers overheard the conversation that occurred when you and another of the Konoha ninja discovered each others' presence, and 'it did not go well,' to quote directly." His eyes flickered upwards. "Was there some sort of problem which might have a future bearing on relations between Suna and Konoha?"

..._And there it is._ Sighing, Itachi wished Gaara had just let this go until receiving both his and Temari's reports on the mission; but at the same time he also understood why Suna's leader wanted to discuss it now. With the two villages trying to build a better rapport, anything which might jeopardize the growing goodwill between them needed to be addressed as soon as it came up - or as quickly as possible thereafter. He hesitated, unsure of exactly _how_ to word the encounter succinctly.

When Itachi didn't immediately respond, Gaara frowned slightly. "I understood from Lady Tsunade's missive that tensions were bad, but would you describe them as inescapably so?"

"No, milord." Knowing he needed to get it over with, Itachi sighed again and forced himself to speak. "The Konoha ninja with whom I had the encounter was actually my younger brother."

Though Gaara's expression didn't change, Itachi saw the flicker in his eyes which indicated his understanding of the magnitude of the encounter. "I see now why it did not go well," he murmured.

_"Did not go well" is a bit of an understatement._ Itachi thought it wiser _not_ to voice that thought. "Though I did mention Suna was on the verge of taking the ring down ourselves, I did say we were completely willing to work with Konoha. Sasuke responded - negatively - to the offer. Fortunately Hatake took a more levelheaded view of the situation."

"Indeed. It turned out well enough in the end." Gaara hesitated, eyeing the livid red lines on Itachi's face, but did not comment. "Lady Tsunade indicated the majority of the team was disappointed they had to abandon the mission, but understood. She mentioned the member who had direct contact with you was quite - _vociferous_ with his complaint. Though she did not go into details, she hinted that he was displeased at Suna's 'interference' in general, and particularly that of the ninja with whom he spoke."

_Nearly shouted might be a better way to put it._ Itachi nodded slowly. "I'm not surprised. Though I _am_ relieved to hear the majority of the team was not angered by Konoha's withdrawal." Knowing now the Hatake had been in charge of the mission made Itachi better understand why the team had withdrawn: Kakashi was a smart one. He knew when it was time to press his advantage, and when it was time to step back and allow someone in a better position to take over. The few times he'd worked with the man before the Uchiha massacre had helped him learn those things. It was nice to know Kakashi still operated that way.

Putting the rolled-up scroll back on his desk, Gaara sighed in obvious relief. "Even though Uchiha Sasuke's contact with you was regrettably ill-tempered, it _is_ nice to know _you_ handled the matter with diplomacy. It is also a relief to be certain Konoha in general bears us no ill will over the incident." His eyes briefly darted to his wrist, where the very edge of a slightly worn piece of lavender fabric peeked out from beneath his sleeve. Itachi wondered at the scrap's significance, but knew better than to ask.

Itachi silently nodded in agreement. Inwardly, however, he imagined Sasuke's reaction when he found out Konoha was withdrawing. His brother possessed a fiercely competitive streak; it wouldn't have helped having to accept that his exiled brother's team would be allowed to finish the mission and take down the ring. Even knowing Konoha and Suna would soon be allied, thus victory for one would count as the same for the other, would not help. Sasuke was a good ninja, but Itachi couldn't help but think his quick temper a handicap for his abilities. It had caused him no end of concern that Sasuke would someday get himself into a situation where his emotions would overthrow his common sense and get him badly hurt - or worse, killed.

He quickly shoved the thought away - _again_. "Was there anything else you wanted to discuss with me, milord?"

Gaara's eyes narrowed. For a moment Itachi thought he would bring up something else. But finally the redhead's expression relaxed, and he shook his head. "No, that's it for now. Thank you, Uchiha."

"Milord." Knowing he'd been dismissed, Itachi stood, bowed, then slipped from the office. As soon as he closed the door behind himself, he closed his eyes and let out a long, tired breath. _Well, that certainly could have gone worse. But what else was Lord Gaara getting ready to say there at the end? Why did he stop himself?_

Itachi pushed away from the door with tired effort and made his way slowly back to his room. The entire way, one thought beat through his head in time with his footsteps:

_And why does that single unasked question bother me so much?_

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Note**_**:** I am _so_ sorry for the late update - _again_! The last couple of weeks of my life have been _really_ stressful, and sadly writing kind of had to take a back seat to everything else going on. But I finally found the time to update this - and thank goodness! I felt so terrible, leaving you all on that cliffhanger for so long. Thank you all so much for reading, I hope this chapter was worth the wait, that you enjoyed it, and to see you again next update!


	18. Shiver

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _Halestrom_, _greetingsfrommaars_, _rao hyuga 18_, _Dragon Ashes_, _big boss_, and _Guest_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also, a big thanks goes to everyone who has added this story (and me!) to their favorites and alert lists. I get a fresh burst of inspiration every time I see a new alert in my e-box!

**Author's Note:** Ah, I have no _words_ for how excited I am about this chapter! It's definitely another one that goes down on my list of favorites. I had _so much fun_ (probably _too much fun_) writing it, so I really hope it's also great fun to read! Thank you so much for checking out this chapter - I hope you enjoy!

* * *

***~Chapter XVII~***

_~Shiver~_

* * *

The clock mounted on Temari's wall softly chimed the midnight hour, but the knock on the door drowned out the pleasant sound.

_Who in the world would come to my door at midnight?_ Hoping an emergency had not arisen, Temari pushed aside the report she'd been working on, unlocked the door, and eased it open just enough to peer through.

Her brother's narrow green eye glared back.

_Yikes!_ Jerking her head back, Temari pulled the door fully open as she stepped back. "Gaara! You startled me. Is something wrong?" She bit her lip before adding, _It's midnight, or have you noticed?_ Her insomniac brother usually lost track of the hours; as far as she knew, he could think it was high noon and his visit nothing unusual.

The redhead's gaze briefly rested on the papers strewn across the low table in the center of the room, then shifted to meet hers as she closed the door. "I've spoken with Itachi. Now I need to talk to you about the mission," he said.

Temari swallowed convulsively. Her instinct to elude the subject immediately joined forces with her exhaustion, tripling the effect of both. Knowing it to be cowardly of her even as she did it, she queried, "Is it _very_ important? It's midnight, and I was just getting ready to set this report aside and go to bed."

Sure enough, Gaara's face registered surprise as he looked to the clock, now silent. "So it is. I hadn't noticed."

_My brother is not just an insomniac - he's a workaholic_. _He's probably been in his office doing paperwork up till now_. Sighing, Temari dropped down onto the cushion she'd been using earlier and motioned Gaara to the one on the other side of the table. "Are you here as my superior, or my brother?" she asked. It was a very fine distinction, one neither of them particularly enjoyed making. They enjoyed it even less, though, when the line between the two blurred.

Gaara folded his lithe frame onto the cushion with ease. "Both."

_Oh joy._ Raking loose papers toward her, Temari hurriedly began organizing them into a stack, anxious to do something to keep her from having to look him in the face. "All right, then. Is it about something I did wrong on the mission?"

"Is there a reason for me to think that, since I haven't read your report yet?" Those eerily perceptive green eyes drilled into the top of Temari's bowed head.

_Has Itachi already turned in his?_ "I'll have it finished and on your desk by noon tomorrow," Temari said, a last ditch effort to escape whatever torturous conversation faced her now.

"Hn. But I have a feeling what I really want to know won't be in the report, so I thought I'd come talk to you about it now," Gaara said coolly.

Temari felt herself bristle. _Well, this is going to be fun._ She gave up straightening the papers and plopped them aside, narrowly missing the intricately carved holder for her pens Kankuro had made for her eighteenth birthday. Shooting her younger brother a sharp look from suddenly narrowed eyes, she barely managed to keep from gritting her teeth as she said, "I wasn't aware I'd ever made a habit of leaving things out of my reports."

Gaara's mouth turned down in a frown. "Don't make me say it out loud, Temari. This is just as awkward for me as it is for you."

_Oh, I doubt that._ An inkling of what her brother must be talking about flashed through her mind as brightly as an emergency flare. But how in the world had he found out about that kiss?

"We had to support our cover," Temari said firmly. "It meant nothing to me, and I doubt it did to Itachi, either, though you'd have to ask him to know for sure." _Liar._ Her skin still tingled at the memory of Itachi's lips against hers; but she'd pluck out all her eyebrows before admitting that aloud.

One of Gaara's hairless brows twitched - in amusement, consternation, or bewilderment, she couldn't tell. "To what are you referring?" he asked politely.

_Bewilderment, then. When will I ever learn to keep my big mouth shut?_ Knowing her guilty conscience had spoken for her, Temari firmly smothered it before daring to speak again. "I do believe we're having two separate conversations. To what are _you_ referring?"

His lips flattened into a disapproving line. "To the fact you seem to be getting along better with Itachi since your return. And you were-?"

Temari nearly swallowed her tongue. "Nothing!" She realized the word had exploded out of her far too loudly, and too quickly besides, and her shoulders slumped dejectedly. To cover it she muttered, "I just - we got a peek at the skeletons in each other's metaphorical closets, that's all. He knows now what happened to me five years ago; I learned what happened to _him_ at about the same time. We just understand each other better, that's all." Forcibly pushing away the memory of that kiss as though fearing Gaara might read her mind, she shivered at the thought of seeing Itachi in a romantic light. But was it _really_ with revulsion, something deep within her whispered, or excitement? Even_ she_ couldn't tell for sure, which disturbed her greatly. "That's _all_." She shoved the words out with all the certainty she could muster.

From the look on Gaara's face, it hadn't nearly been enough. "While I hoped this would happen eventually, I must say I didn't expect all this to come out in the middle of a mission. Was it the ensuing emotional upheaval which caused things to go..." His facial muscles twitched slightly, and his mouth twisted sardonically as he finished, "..._awry_?"

_Honestly? Yes._ Temari absently rubbed the skin next to her nose, then quickly dropped her hand into her lap again when she realized what she was doing. Every time she saw Itachi, the scars left from her surgically-sharp weapons had faded a little more, but she knew he'd always have to live with them. "Perhaps," she answered vaguely, ashamed.

Gaara remained silent, knowing there was more she needed to say. He read people with an ease most of even the best ninja lacked, a product of his upbringing.

Sighing, Temari clenched her hands into fists in her lap. "I never meant to injure him," she whispered. "But the water was so dark- And it was _water_- So I was panicking..." Closing her eyes would force her to relive that awful moment, something which she'd thus far managed to avoid, at least during her waking hours, so she forced them to remain wide open. She could not, however, make herself look up at Gaara's face. She didn't want to see the disapproval, the disappointment, she knew she'd find there. In a very small voice she asked, "Itachi requested to be reassigned to a new partner, didn't he?" She didn't blame him. If she weren't such a coward, she would have done the same thing to keep from feeling this humiliation.

"No." The denial was instantaneously, although matter of factly, spoken.

Temari's head jerked up. This time she couldn't keep _from_ looking Gaara in the face. "What did you say?" she rasped.

"Itachi did not ask for a reassignment." Gaara's head tilted ever-so-slightly to the left, like an inquisitive dog's. "Am I to presume your bringing up the subject means you would like to ask to be reassigned?" A certain underlying resignation in his expression burned Temari's conscience. Had she been so recalcitrant, badgered her brother so much in the past, he automatically anticpated her response now to be a _yes_?

A _resounding_ yes, at that?

"No." This time she spoke the denial, though she colored the word with a passion which surprised even herself. Temari frowned at the immediacy of her response, shocked to realize she no longer desired a different partner. As Gaara had predicted when first pairing them up, she and Itachi worked well together. It seemed a shame to break up that tenuous rapport. She added in a quieter tone, "I don't want to be reassigned."

If Temari hadn't been so confused by her own emotions, the startled look on Gaara's face would have seemed downright comical. "I - see," he drew out the words, meaning he clearly didn't.

"No, you don't," Temari replied tiredly, rubbing her abruptly aching forehead with her fingertips. "And I don't either, so why are we even having this conversation?"

Gaara's expression turned speculative. "I want your assurance that - whatever - happened on your last mission won't cause a problem later down the line."

Temari itched to ask if he'd posed the same question to Itachi, but she knew better. Gaara didn't play favorites. If he felt this situation important enough to question her, he'd put Itachi through the same humiliating inquisition - if he hadn't already. "It won't. I promise."

He studied her expression for a long moment, then nodded, seeming satisfied. "Very well." Rising, he headed toward the door. "I'll leave you to your report, or to go to bed, whichever. Good night, sister."

"Good night, brother." Temari propped one elbow on the table and allowed her head to slump against her fist as through half-closed eyes she watched him open the door. She knew without asking he intended to go straight back to his office. A pity, but her poor baby brother really found a good night's sleep to be a foreign concept. She wished she knew of a way to help him regarding the matter, but everything she - and the best Healers in Suna - had tried never worked.

Instead of stepping through the door, as Temari anticipated, Gaara paused. The hoarseness of his voice even more pronounced than usual, he said, "It's rather late, don't you think?"

Temari snapped upright, realizing someone must have been standing at the door when her brother opened it. _An eavesdropper?_

"Ah - my apologies." Recognizing the voice as Itachi's, Temari forced herself to her feet. As he went on to say, "I came over on a hunch Temari was still awake. I wanted to ask her if she would like to spar tomorrow," she moved to stand behind Gaara. To her faint surprise he did not step aside out of the doorway but remained stubbornly in place, almost as though - the thought barreled incredulously through her mind, leaving her balanced precariously between amusement and bemusement - he was _barricading_ the opening. _Is he - _guarding_ my virtue?_

Itachi's dark eyes latched onto hers over her brother's shoulder. A smile ghosted across his lips. "There you are. Would you like to spar tomorrow, perhaps after we deliver our reports to you, Lord Gaara?" He tilted his head toward their leader in deference to his presence, including him in the conversation. Gaara remained silent, his pale green eyes drifting silently, calculatingly from his sister to her partner as his expression stayed blank.

Her mouth went instantly dry at the thought. Hard as she tried to keep her gaze fixed steadily on his, her focus persisted in drifting to the thin, livid lines disfiguring his face. Obsessed with her guilty feelings, she never realized how her guilt magnified the scars in her eyes, making them look worse than they actually were. _I did that. I scarred him for life. How can he stand there acting as though my attack on him never happened?_

"It's been a while since I had a good workout," she said, proud when she kept her voice from shaking. "Sure, a spar sounds good. The time is good for me, too." She'd planned to go the gym, anyway, and the ropes would still be there after their workout.

The subtle tension lines bracketing Itachi's eyes and mouth eased. "Excellent," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow in the gym, then - around one?" At Temari's nod, he bowed to Gaara, wished them both goodnight, and then left as silently as he'd arrived.

Gaara studied Temari's expression once more, an uncharacteristic gleam in his eyes. "Good night again, Temari."

Wondering what that strange little glint was all about, Temari warily replied, "Good night, Gaara." As she closed the door behind her late-night guests, she decided she'd best head for bed before her night got any stranger.

_I haven't seen Itachi in days_, she thought, brushing her hair as part of her bedtime routine. _Why did he just suddenly show up at my door in the middle of the night to ask me if I wanted to spar with him? Maybe he thinks beating me will restore balance to our partnership? Is that what it'll take to even the scales between us? And if so - should I just _let_ him win? _Pausing in her steady brushing, she stared into her reflected eyes for a long, long moment, considering it. Then the corners of her lips turned up in a saucy little grin. _Nope. If that's what is necessary, then he's going have to beat me fair and square._

_-If he can. _

* * *

The bō staff felt like an old friend in her grip. Grinning delightedly, Temari spun it easily, relishing the sharp _whoosh_ as the wooden weapon cut through the air. According to her custom she arrived at the gym early; as the only person there, she took the opportunity to do some shadow sparring: jumping and lunging and ducking her way through the long-familiar moves.

It had been too long. Since upholding their covers had been of the utmost importance, she and Itachi had not had the opportunity to work out together during their mission. Then had come the hard pursuit of Hiro and Juuri, followed by the wearing journey home. Upon their return to Suna, her days had been far too busy with finishing sorting out the mission and last-minute details for her brother's birthday party to do much else. Now her muscles sang happily as she moved through the patterns. It felt _good_ to be active again, instead of doing paperwork or acting like a spoiled airhead. With each jab, she pictured many different enemies' faces; but the most common to pop up was definitely Juuri's. Even thinking about her still made Temari's skin crawl. Undoubtedly she'd be called upon to testify due to her part in bringing down the ring, and some part of her looked forward to seeing justice served on the woman.

Temari whirled, the long rod poised to descend with skull-crushing force as she came out of her pirouette; paused as she sensed Itachi at the door, then deliberately finished the next set of moves before smoothly gliding into a relaxed stance. Leaning casually against her upright bō staff, she saw he wore a workout outfit very similar to her own: snugly fitting black pants and top that left his arms and calves bare. Excitement and anxiety shivered through her veins from a place deep in her core. She immediately squelched the sensation. _Perhaps agreeing to this match was a bad idea_...

"'Bout time you showed up," she said, having to work harder than she liked to keep her tone lazy and offhanded.

Swiftly crossing the room, Itachi snatched up the same staff he always used when they sparred. He spun it a few times, readjusting himself to its height and weight. "From what I just saw, it looks like you don't need me anyway." Hooking the staff behind his neck, he draped his arms over it and then twisted his torso from side to side, going through the same warm-up routine Temari had not too long before him.

Unsure what response Itachi expected, Temari made a noncommital humming sound and pushed off her staff, slowly running through a few moves to keep her muscles loose and warm while he went through his own pre-sparring routine. "I hope you haven't gotten _too_ rusty while we were out on that mission," she taunted.

Itachi tapped the end of his staff against the floor, then swung it up to hold it in both hands across his chest, parallel to the floor. Thrusting it forward, he let out a bellowing, "_Kyea!_" before twisting the rod, lapping one arm over the other in a different stretch. "I could say the same to you. How long's it been since you picked that up?" He jutted his chin toward her staff.

"Oh, same as you, I suppose. So I guess that means we must be even." She grinned, hoping to bait him. To her disappointment his expression remained smooth and unbothered as he continued with his routine. Against her will her eyes kept stealing little glances at him; at the smooth yet powerful grace of his movements; at the way the muscles of his arms, shoulders, and calves bunched and flexed and relaxed under skin that soon began to glisten with sweat. A subversive warmth built insidiously in the pit of her stomach. _Holy ancestors, but he's beautiful to watch! _

At last allowing the bottom edge of his stick to rest against the mat, Itachi reached into his pocket and pulled out two long, dark pieces of fabric. "What do you say to making this a little more interesting?" he asked, arching one eyebrow.

Temari's breath nearly caught in her throat. _Did he mean that the way it sounded...?_ For a moment, she felt off-balance, unsure of her footing in this suddenly tense interaction. Then her reason returned, prompting, _He just means to spar blindfolded. Unlike you, he doesn't appear to be having problems keeping this relationship professional._

Pretending to be unbothered, Temari closed the distance between them and plucked one of the dark cloths from his fingers. "You're on!" Holding her staff between her side and arm, she reached up to tie her blindfold behind her head, making sure it was snug but not too tight. "I haven't done this exercise for a long time," she remarked. "Should be, as you said - interesting."

The faint rustle of fabric clued her in that Itachi was busy tying on his own blindfold. "I thought so. One never knows when a situation might arise when the ability to fight blind could come in handy. In a dark room, for instance, or if one's sight is temporarily damaged."

Picturing precisely where Itachi had been standing, she lifted her staff and lightly tapped his arm, gratified when she connected. "So let's see how well we do, shall we?"

"When you're ready, milady." She could just imagine him making a sweeping bow to accompany his comment. A heartbeat later air ghosting across her skin confirmed her guess.

"Ready..." She drew in a deep breath, tensing her muscles in preparation for the first blow. "Set..." Her fingers reflexively tightened around her staff, making sure she had a strong grip. "_Go_!"

Temari moved by pure instinct. The end of her staff swept up and around, connecting with Itachi's at the apex of the half-circle. Jerking her weapon away, she whirled away, her left leg lashing out in a spin-heel kick she rarely used but found rather effective the few times she did.

Something soft brushed across the bare sole of her foot - fabric, maybe, or a lock of hair? Completing her rotation, Temari set herself for just a moment before blocking Itachi's next strike, aimed at her midsection. She laughed at the soft sound of frustration which huffed from him. "Have to do better than that!" she taunted gleefully. Ducking down and to the right, she struck out with the base of her staff, grinning when she encountered resistance and her target grunted. "Gotcha!" she crowed.

Itachi retaliated much faster than she'd expected. She felt the rush of air from her left and bent backwards, knowing the end of the staff had missed the tip of her nose by the width of a finger. _Pay attention, Temari. You haven't won this thing yet, not by a long shot._

Shifting her grip, Temari swung her staff over her head, then brought it arcing straight down toward where she anticipated Itachi would be. Instead of making an impact, however, her weapon _whooshed_ straight through thin air. _What?_

Instinct and training shoved past her confusion. _Move_! Obeying, Temari threw herself into a forward roll, hearing the tip of Itachi's staff whack the mat where she'd been standing just a few seconds before.

_There you are._ Planting her base foot, Temari spun around, her left leg sweeping across the floor as her staff swung at waist level. Though she struck nothing with her leg, she was rewarded once again as her wooden weapon smacked what she thought must be her opponent's thigh or knee. _Ha!_

This time, she didn't stop to celebrate her small victory. Ducking her head, she completed a shoulder roll and came up with her staff clenched in both hands in a block. The impact of Itachi's weapon against it rattled through her bones and exploded through her head to trigger a fresh, hot wave of desire to win.

For a moment the two backed off from each other, listening intently. Temari regulated her breathing, keeping it as soft as possible as she listened for anything which would help her pinpoint Itachi's position. The sound of his own breathing; the brush of fabric against fabric; an impact of his foot - however lightly - against the mat-

_Behind you!_ The screamed warning from her instincts came a second too late as Itachi's staff rapped her soundly-

-across her posterior.

Savagely clamping her teeth against the indignant scream swelling into her throat, Temari sommersaulted away from any further impacts, furious. _He did that deliberately!_ She ground her teeth, listening for a betraying breathed chuckle from her opponent. Itachi remained infuriatingly silent, however, not allowing her to pin down his position so she could retaliate. How, exactly, she planned to get her revenge she still had no clue as to accomplishing, but she would. _I don't just get mad - I get _even_. I don't care how long it takes, Uchiha, but you're going to learn that._

Knowing better than to stay in one place, she kept circling, very cautiously moving in a counterclockwise pattern. Her feet landed soundlessly against the mat, and her tight-fitting clothes prevented the rustling which might have resulted from looser garments. Only her breathing gave her problems - she wanted to huff out her breaths in short, aggravated pants, but she kept it low and even. _Where are you? I'm going to find you, and when I do..._

She jabbed sharply backwards. For a moment she thought she'd badly misjudged Itachi's next move; but just when she started to reverse her weapon's trajectory, her staff impacted something which let out an "_oomph!_" and blew hot breath against the back of her neck.

"_Aha_!" Temari spun around, staff preceding her, expecting to feel another impact-

-but once again connected with nothing but air. _Gah!_ She sommersaulted forward and (hopefully) away again, thinking bitterly, _No wonder he suggested this little exercise. He's an expert at it!_

Disturbed air flowed toward her from her right and slightly in front. Temari made to step back and to the left, away, but to her shock her back rammed straight into something solid and warm. _He tricked me!_

Quick as a striking snake, Itachi's arm curled around her, gripping her staff with an iron hand. His own whooshed to a stop at her throat, the warm wood brushing lightly against her wet skin.

"Do you concede?" Itachi's whispered voice in her ear, silken smooth as dark chocolate, sent a fresh wave of shivers running down her spine, chasing those brought on by his warm breath against her neck and through her hair.

Temari pictured the scene in her head as easily as if she floated on the ceiling, watching the spectacle from above. Itachi's left hand secured her staff; his right gripped his own, against her throat. His chest, rising and falling in a quick but even rhythm, pressed snugly against her back and shoulders. The smooth skin of his freshly-shaven cheek brushed against hers; his left foot rested very close to her own.

In the span of a breath, a dozen possible retaliatory moves tumbled through her head, one after another. Plucking the desired one out of the group, she shoved the rest away, and with it any shred of doubt she might have about the chances of her slightly crazy plan's succeeding.

Sucking in a deep breath, she opened her mouth and growled, "_Never_."

She sensed Itachi's silent gasp of shock as she let go of her own staff. Moving as quickly as he had to trap her, Temari grounded herself, reaching up both hands to grasp Itachi's weapon and yanking sharply on it as she doubled over, tucking her chin to protect her airway. Thrown off balance by her sudden move, his body swung over hers. The resistance of his grip on the weapon vanished as he landed hard on his back, the impact against the mat forcing him to let go.

Temari leaped into the air and spun in a half-circle with an agile twist of her hips, dropping down with her feet on either side of Itachi's thighs. She dropped to her knees quickly to perch just below his diaphragm. She held his own weapon against his throat, careful not to press too hard and cut off his breath. Feeling the overmastering need to get that payback, she leaned forward, placing her lips right against his ear as she breathed, "Do _you_ concede?"

His body, tense and hard beneath hers, convulsed sharply. She heard his breath catch in his throat, and then he went absolutely still beneath her. _He's going to say it...!_

Without warning, Itachi surged upwards, nearly conking heads with her. Grasping the edge of his rod in both hands - his fingers pressed against hers tightly, almost painfully - he lunged forward, knocking her off balance as he as he rose to his knees. Only her own grip on his bō staff kept her from tumbling onto her side.

Scrambling to remain upright, Temari opened her mouth to protest? to curse? But her words vanished beneath a garbled gasp as Itachi's mouth suddenly fastened on hers in a kiss totally unlike the one they'd shared at the ball. This one was hard and demanded a response from her. Her lips parted under his, every single nerve ending in her body blazing to life as he deeply, thoroughly, and _passionately_ kissed her. She felt like her very bones would melt from the molten desire pouring from him into her - or was it the other way around? _I-Itachi..._

As suddenly as it started, the kiss ended. Her senses swimming, Temari felt him all but tear himself away from her, leaving her tottering on her knees in the middle of the gym, shivering and gasping and feeling somehow more _alive_ than she ever had before. For a moment she sat absolutely still except for her heaving chest. It was as if Itachi had pulled some sort of plug controlling her body's movements when he'd jerked away.

In the next instant, control of her body returned to her. Temari reached up one violently trembling hand to yank off her blindfold, not even feeling the pain when more than one strand of hair came with it. Blinking in the sudden glare of the overhead lights, she was just in time to see Itachi snatch up his shoes and stride from the room on bare feet, his back and shoulders stiff and taut, hands fisted at his sides.

Temari pressed the back of her hand still holding her blindfold against her mouth, her disbelieving eyes - stinging with tears of rejection - drifting from the now-empty doorway to Itachi's blindfold, fluttering to a rest on the floor halfway between her and the exit.

Only one thought - for which she could find no answer - was able to pierce the buzzing jumble of thoughts in her confused mind:

_What - _what_ just happened?_

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ _So. Much. Fun._ I've been looking forward to posting this chapter for quite a while (that last scene was one of the first I wrote, to be honest), and I thought I was going to explode! I _really_ hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I definitely look forward to hearing your thoughts! Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you all again for the next update!


	19. Uncertain

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _greetingsfrommaars_, _McKazekage_, _Dragon Ashes_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _Guest_, _Halestrom_, _rao hyuga 18_, _Big Boss_, and _Dani Stark_ for all your amazing reviews! Also thanks to everyone who's added this story to their favorites and alert lists!

**Author's Note:** Again, sorry for the semi-long wait for the update! But I was fighting a severe seasonal allergy attack when I originally intended to update, and I really wasn't worth much of anything. I'm back to normal now, though, I'm happy to say, and I'm glad to get this chapter out to you - especially after that cliffhanger, of sorts, in the last chapter. Thank you so much for your patience with my somewhat sporadic updates, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for reading!

* * *

***~Chapter XVIII~***

_~Uncertain~_

* * *

_What was I thinking? _Was_ I even thinking?_

For the next week, Itachi brooded unforgivingly over his loss of self-control in kissing Temari. He rabidly avoided her in any and every way possible, taking his meals in his room and working out late - _very_ late - at night. But when the invitation to Gaara's birthday party landed on his figurative doorstep, he knew avoiding her would no longer be possible.

On the bright side, he thought as he made his way to the event, he didn't believe even a very angry Temari would confront him about the kiss in so public a forum as the leader of Suna's birthday pary. On the down side, however, Temari had other ways of getting her point across. If she were at all angry with him about the kiss, he would soon know about it.

-Then again, would he still have gotten an invitation to Gaara's party if Temari were angry at him? She'd handled most of the details for the party, so if she were truly mad, surely she would have struck his name from the guest list. Either that, or things had been arranged ahead of time, and she hadn't had a _chance_ to dispose of his invite before it came to him...

_I'm overthinking this. I know I am. But I can't help myself._ Itachi threw back the contents of his cup as if it were saké - he _hated_ saké - even though it was only tea. He sat at a table with Soichiro, Matsuri, and other members of the household staff who also served as ninja and bodyguards, protecting the Sabaku from infiltration and invaders. Though the rest of the guests at Itachi's table were having a grand time, he couldn't bring himself to join the festivities.

Despite stern mental orders otherwise, his gaze slid once again to the table set up on a platform at the front of the room. Gaara sat flanked by Kankuro and Temari; though the middle sibling looked to be enjoying himself, the eldest and youngest were quite obviously tense. He knew this was the first halfway public celebration of Gaara's birthday, and the redhead struck Itachi as the type who would rather keep things private, if a fuss absolutely _had_ to be made over him. Though obviously making a concentrated effort to be polite, Gaara looked like he'd much rather be facing down a room full of S-rank rogue nin than trying (and failing) to enjoy himself alongside merry party guests.

Despite the rather interesting expression on Gaara's face, Itachi's gaze once again strayed to Temari. She wore a beautiful orchid kimono, covered with a pattern of tiny black-and-silver fans. Oval earrings set with charoite dangled from her lobes, and a string of amethysts had been woven through her hair, swept back in a loose bun at the back of her head. She looked regal and beautiful. Itachi felt doubly shamed by his desire to march up to the front of the room, drag her into his arms, and kiss her breathless again.

After a week's worth of avoiding her in an attempt to get hold of himself and his out-of-control emotions, it was _so_ nice to know his efforts had all been in vain.

Temari's eyes suddenly snapped to his. Itachi looked away just as quickly, his heart pounding like a schoolboy's with his first crush. Staring down at the barely-touched contents of his plate, he allowed his free hand to curl into a fist in his lap. _Love is not for you, Itachi,_ he told himself for the innumerable time. _Particularly not with Sabaku Temari. How long is it going to take to drum that through your thick skull?_

Longer, apparently, than the week he'd been trying.

Even though he'd looked away, Itachi still felt Temari's gaze drilling into the side of his head. He wondered what thoughts passed through her mind: Did she hate him for the kiss? For avoiding her so long? Both? Honestly, did he _really_ want to know the answer to those questions?

Yes. But not badly enough to ask them.

Yet.

The worst part if it? He knew _exactly_ what had driven him to kiss her. The surprisingly passionate embrace they'd shared undercover had haunted him constantly, the urge to kiss her again always just beneath the surface - to see if it genuine attraction had powered it, or if it'd been only the heat of the moment. He now knew the answer, try as he might to keep shoving the idea out the back of his mind.

Sleepless though he'd been with thinking about her, it had been stupid of him to get up in the middle of the night and go ask Temari to spar - especially when her brother opened the door. And it had been equally stupid to suggest using blindfolds. But he'd thought if he didn't have to _see_ her (especially in her form-fitting workout clothes), hopefully his painful, out-of-control attraction to her would ease.

Instead, it just made it _worse_, making him hyperaware of her presence, able to track every single step she took even though she made as little noise as possible. He knew he'd really frustrated her by being able to pinpoint her location so easily. When he'd pinned her - more out of instinct than anything else - the heat of her body against his, combined with the jasmine scent, although faint, rising from her skin and hair, had nearly driven him wild. If not for that distraction, she wouldn't have caught him off guard and flipped him so easily.

And when she'd perched on him like that... Itachi clenched his eyelids shut and pinched the bridge of his nose with a slightly trembling hand, transported by that simple act back to that moment. He could feel her warm, wet skin beneath his hands; smell the spicy jasmine drowning out what little rationality remained in his dangerously primal thoughts; _taste_-

_Don't think about it. Not here. _

_Not now. _

_Not _ever.

Itachi's eyes snapped open. Reaching out, he snatched up his cup again so fast he nearly upset it, refilled it and gulped down its contents. _Stop. It. _Now_._

A week of separating himself from Temari had had an effect on him, all right. It just wasn't the right one.

Being away from her only made him want to be with her all the more.

_You've got to talk to her._ Scowling at his conscience's not-so-subtle prodding, Itachi set down his empty cup and once again reached for his chopsticks. _It's just going to keep getting worse until you do._

Perhaps worse would be better. Even though he knew he needed to apologize for his (_extremely_) rash and forward behavior, the thought of having to face her made him want to run for the hills - a very unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling for him.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled with awareness. _She's staring at me again. What _is_ she thinking?_

* * *

_How can he just _sit_ there so calmly, as if nothing happened?_ Temari glared through her lashes at the side of Itachi's head - all she could see since he stubbornly refused to look at her. Granted, she'd been avoiding him for the past week, but now her curiosity was getting the better of her. Did the kiss which had turned her bones to jelly and her mind to mush mean so little to him?

She curled her free hand into a fist around the napkin in her lap to keep it from rising to her lips. The fine hairs on the backs of her arms and neck rose yet again at the memory of that _kiss_ - that heart-stopping, soul-searing, all-consuming meeting of lips which had haunted her every waking and sleeping moment since it happened.

As she'd both feared and expected, seeing Itachi for the first time since then brought all those wild feelings roaring back, as fresh as if she felt them for the first time. She'd been struggling with a strange, almost magnetic attraction to him since their mission, but had managed to pass it off as a carryover from having been so immersed in her character. Other instances where partners fell in love during missions tumbled through her mind, along with the inevitable results: It never lasted. Sometimes one, or the other, or both, fell in love with the created character, rather than the person playing the part. When the ninja's true personality came back to the forefront after the mission's end, the romance fell apart - often quite painfully and messily.

Temari already felt fragile and wrung-out enough around Itachi. The last thing she needed was what little camaraderie they'd managed to build between them shattering because of some stupid infatuation that wasn't even real.

Unfortunately, convincing her head and her heart were proving to be beyond difficult. Because what she wanted more than anything was to march down to Itachi, seize his handsome face between her hands, and kiss him to within an inch of his life.

"-Temari? Hey, sis, are you even listening to me?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Temari jerked her head around to look past Gaara at Kankuro, who stared back with a half-confused, half-amused expression on his face. "I'm sorry, I was thinking about something else. What were you saying?"

Kankuro smirked knowingly at her. She clenched her teeth and her hand to keep from throwing her napkin at him. "Nothing important, apparently," he replied. "I just asked if you sneaked into the kitchen before dinner, because you're not eating anything on your plate right now."

That caught Gaara's attention. He turned to glance at Temari's plate, then give her a curious look. With both her brothers staring at her, embarrassment quickly brought a flush creeping up her neck into her cheeks. _Kankuro and his big mouth. Thanks a bunch, little brother._ "I'm just not hungry," she said austerely. "I'm concerned with hoping that everything with the party goes smoothly. Not only did I not have much time, I'm _horrible_ at planning these things, so..." She trailed off, hoping they would believe her only partially true excuse, and lifted her teacup to her lips.

Snickering into his own cup, Kankuro said, "You're nervous about the party, _ri-i-ight_. That explains your focused stare at Uchiha like you'd much rather eat _him_ than your dinner."

Temari nearly choked on the drink she'd just taken. After taking a few precious seconds to regain her ability to breathe unhindered, she reared back in her chair to lean behind Gaara and hiss, "Grow _up_, Kankuro! And while you're at it, get a pair of glasses. Obviously you're not seeing things right."

As she straightened up again, Gaara cleared his throat into his fist. He then muttered so low only she heard him, "He - or in this case, _she_ - who protests vociferously only increases her guilt, Temari."

_Oh_ great_, Gaara noticed too. Thanks for that little piece of ancient Suna old man wisdom, baby brother._ Latching on to her napkin with both hands, she pulled at it until she heard it rip to prevent herself from wrapping her hands around her brother's (either one, didn't matter at this point, though she leaned a _little_ more in Kankuro's favor) throat and squeezing until he turned blue in the face. And then she'd kill him.

Slowly.

Painfully.

_With relish._

Could this party just _end,_ already? She really wanted to go hole up in her room and rethink her entire life. Most particularly those aspects of it which crossed paths with one Uchiha Itachi's.

At the thought, Temari's gaze slid back to him again. Did he _have_ to look so handsome? Wearing almost unrelieved black should have an ill effect on his looks - after all, too much of one color was sure to have a negative impact on just about anyone's appearance. But on _him_, of _course_ it multiplied his attractiveness by ten. (Or maybe a hundred. But honestly, who was counting? Certainly not her.) She watched his long fingers fiddle with his chopsticks, spinning them idly between his fingers as he contemplated the contents of his own plate, which seemed as mysteriously untouched as her own. She couldn't see his dark eyes, but she quite easily imagined the intense expression in them. No matter what he did, he approached it with the same intense, focused attitude she recognized in Gaara.

She saw so many aspects to Itachi's character that coincided with Gaara's, but in the Uchiha, they were so _attractive_. So _different_.

_Why_? She halfway wished Itachi were a borderline lazy goofball like Kankuro. _Surely_ that was unattractive in any man, no matter how good-looking on the outside.

_I am going to scream._ Snatching up her own chopsticks, Temari attacked her food with the same violence she wanted to use on her brothers and Itachi. She fought back an urge to snort. That was all this party needed: the birthday boy's sister going stark raving mad over a man she so desperately wanted to hate. Wouldn't that be fun?

_Breathe in._ Temari did so, then took a bite of rice. _Breathe out_. She released the air through her nose, then chewed and swallowed the now-tepid grains in her mouth. _Just keep doing that. See? Don't you feel calmer already?_

..._Not really, no._

Carefully setting down her chopsticks with all the decorum she could muster, Temari reached for her cup. _You are _not _going to ruin Gaara's birthday with this crazy behavior. Calm down and put a lid on your thoughts. Where's all that ability you had to hide things from your brothers?_

Truthfully? _Itachi stole it when he broke down my walls and learned the truth of why I'm so terrified of water._

Temari sighed. _I should just talk to him about this. I'm being ridiculous avoiding him. Eventually Gaara is going to assign us to another mission, and this tension between us will put us both in danger if we don't do something about it. We're both adults. We can discuss this rationally, and resolve it satisfactorily. There's really nothing beyond superficial physical attraction between us, anyway, because our personalties are basically incompatible. Which makes the avoiding the issue even more nonsensical._

So if that were true: Why couldn't she convince herself that it was such a good idea?

* * *

_Just knock already._

Temari curled her hand into a fist at her side, hating the fact she'd already been standing in front of Itachi's door for ten minutes trying to get up the courage to knock. When he vanished almost immediately when the party disbanded, she'd nearly convinced herself to take it as a sign she should stay away from him. But however much she _really_ didn't want to have this discussion, her mind was already made up. She'd never be able to sleep, or look at her own reflection in a mirror, if she didn't follow through on her resolve.

_Knock!_

Her hand jerked up and rapped smartly on the door, leaving her knuckles stinging from the force she'd used. Embarrassed, she dropped her hand back to her side, wishing she'd gone at it with a little less zeal.

It took fewer than five seconds for Itachi to answer the door. "What's wrong?" The expression on his face implied he expected some sort of emergency.

Nervously, Temari clenched her hands together in front of herself. "No emergency," she said. Her voice came out a little higher-pitched than usual. "I just - can we talk?"

The slightest hint of pink dusted Itachi's cheekbones. For the first time, Temari noticed what he was wearing. Or, in this case,_ not_ wearing. Though a loose pair of meditation pants covered the lower half of his body, only a towel draped around his shoulders, leaving most of his chest and stomach bare. His loose wet hair dripped onto his shoulders. She couldn't help but follow the trail of a few of those shining drops over his skin, glimmering down his broad chest and across nicely muscled abs to vanish into the waistband of his pants...

_Meep!_ Temari forced her eyes shut, knowing her face must be bright red judging by the blazing heat in her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I've - I've come at a bad time, haven't I?"

"No, no, not at all." Itachi's words came out rushed, underlined by his own obvious embarrassment. "I just - give me a minute to - um - dry my hair, and then I'll be out, all right?" Without waiting for an answer, the door clicked shut firmly.

Temari opened her eyes a slit, relieved when only the sturdy wood door met her gaze. Though the door's solid reality _certainly_ did nothing to erase the image now burned forever into her mind.

She obviously couldn't have chosen a worse time to come knocking on his door if she'd tried. (Or, her traitorous mind whispered, a _better_ time. After all, she could think of over a dozen woman of her acquaintance right offhand who would kill for even a glimpse of what she'd just seen. And, _yes_, admired. Slightly. She wasn't _blind_.)

When Itachi opened the door again, he wore a loose shirt, his still-damp hair slicked back into its usual ponytail. "Sorry about that." Stepping out into the hall - Temari took an automatic step back in response, not wanting him anywhere _near_ her personal space for fear of what might happen - he shut the door to his quarters behind him. "Where did you want to go to have that talk?"

Feeling severely overdressed, since she hadn't bothered to change out of her kimono before seeking Itachi out, Temari wrapped her arms around her waist and said, "The roof, perhaps? It's still early enough to be fairly warm." _And maybe the fresh air will help clear the cobwebs out of my brain._

They walked side by side in awkward silence, Itachi instantly and naturally matching each step, each turn, each _breath_. He seemed so attuned to her. No wonder he'd tracked her movements so easily in the gym. At last, Temari unlocked and then pushed open the door to the roof. She preceded Itachi into the comfortable late evening air, her head immediately tilting up so she could take in the vast, beautiful night sky spangled with a thousand multi-colored points of fire. It had been far too long since she'd last stargazed.

She jolted slightly at the realization the last time she'd done so, it had been on a mission. With Itachi.

Could she not escape the man, or his effects on her life?

Slipping past her, Itachi stood a little closer to the edge of the roof, hands in his pockets as he gazed out over the village. Here and there among the buildings far below, lights burned in houses where the occupants had not yet retired for the night, though the hour grew late. The street lamps scattered about the village cast a dim glow over the buildings around them, throwing into even sharper relief the shadowy spots where their light didn't reach.

She shivered.

As if sensing it, Itachi glanced over his shoulder. "Are you cold?" His voice, soft and mellow, held just enough concern to keep from being overbearing or smothering.

Keeping her arms at her sides stubbornly, Temari shook her head. "No."

When she offered nothing further, Itachi fully turned to face her, his posture relaxed. But in the light of the nearly full moon, she saw the tense expression in his eyes, focused right on her. "All right, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"You _know_ what I want to talk about!" The words tumbled from her without permission or control. Temari bit her lips. Now they were out there, she might as well forge ahead while she still had the advantage. "Why did you kiss me?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed, but he didn't look away from her as she'd expected. "Our sparring match was pretty intense. I was caught up in the moment," he said evenly. "Haven't you ever done anything like that before?"

She longed to tell him she'd never kissed anyone on impulse, but that wasn't entirely true. After all, even though Itachi had initiated the kiss, she _certainly_ hadn't sat there and done nothing. She'd kissed him back with just as much passion, shameful as she found her behavior. "Once or twice," she admitted grudgingly.

The corners of his mouth twitched, and she recalled how those lips had felt against hers. "You've never kissed anyone on a whim, though, have you?" His eyes, black as pitch and infinite as the sky, stared straight through her to places she'd really rather he didn't see.

Temari swallowed hard. "No, I haven't." _In fact, I'd never kissed anyone before you._ She _really_ wasn't sure she wanted him to know he'd gotten her first - and only - kisses. _Have you?_ She didn't ask the question since she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"I didn't think so." Itachi released her from his gaze, tilting his head so he could stare up at the stars. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. It was rude and thoughtless of me to kiss you like that, especially without permission."

Her throat ached as she swallowed again. _Why did you have to apologize?_ Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and she knew she could deny the truth no longer. She had no idea when it had started, but Itachi's apology had dragged the ugly, undeniable truth out into the open from where she'd desperately been trying to hide it deep inside herself:

_I am in love with you, Uchiha Itachi._ She bit her lip even harder, until she tasted blood, to keep the words from spilling out. His apology proved he didn't feel the same way about her. After all, hadn't he admitted it himself? He'd just been caught up in the moment, and reacted. His storming out afterwards proved it. He was ashamed of himself for wasting a kiss on someone he didn't love.

Reaching deeply into herself, she frantically felt around for the hatred she'd felt for him. If she could find it, pull it out again, she could protect herself against this weakness, this awful, unrequited love. It had been stupid of her to feel it in the first place. She didn't need it. She didn't need _him_.

She didn't need _anybody_, other than maybe her brothers.

"Is that what you wanted me to say?"

Temari's gaze, which had slipped down to the patch of roof between her feet and his, snapped back up to his eyes, once again focused on hers. "What?" Her voice rasped. She knew all her roiling emotions lay naked in her eyes, there for him to see, inwardly laugh at, and then reject.

"I asked if you _wanted_ to hear my apology." Itachi remained where he was, hands still in his pockets, posture still casual, but his eyes still intense, so intense they nearly killed her. "Or would you rather I say something else?"

_Tell me you love me._ The bitter tang of blood on her tongue tasted like poison, and she instinctively swallowed. Did he have to look at her like he was expecting her to say _something_, but at the same time not give her some clue with his expression or body language about what _he_ wanted to hear?

It was shameful. It was awful of her, and she knew exactly how this scenario would end, but she whispered the truth nonetheless. She _had_ to get it out, or it would slowly kill her in painful ways her watery secret never could have. "I - I think I - I might love you."

There. It was out. And now Itachi could slap her down, and then they could go back to business as usual. After all, she'd gotten very good at hiding her true thoughts. (Except for just now, but she was _extra_ talented at hiding her hurts and disappointments.)

Itachi took two slow, steady steps toward her. Temari smothered the urge to back away, feeling a tremor shudder through her at the heated expression in his eyes, blacker than usual. Was - was he going to strike her? Was he _that_ offended by her words?

His hand lifted, slowly - so excruciatingly _slowly,_ rising from his side. Temari watched it approach her face, holding her ground, not allowing herself to flinch, or jerk her head away, or block his touch like she wanted. She'd take whatever he offered, and not let it bother her.

Softly, almost tenderly, his palm brushed against her cheek, fingers curling to mold to the shape of her jaw. "And that is what _I_ wanted to hear," he whispered. His thumb brushed up her cheek, sweeping against her cheekbone with a feather-light touch. "I knew you would never accept my love for you if you did not first accept yours for me." His head lowered toward hers. He paused with his mouth only a finger's width away from hers. She felt nearly ready to explode from the nearness of him, from the soft warmth of his breath against her lips. "The last thing in the world I would ever want is to hurt you. Or have you hate me again."

And then, closing the last little distance between them, he kissed her.

***~To Be Continued~***

**Author's Note:** Again, sorry for the semi-long wait for the update! I was fighting a severe seasonal allergy attack when I originally intended to update, and I really wasn't worth much of anything. But, thankfully, I'm back to normal now, I'm happy to say, and I'm glad to get this chapter out to you - especially after that cliffhanger, of sorts, in the last chapter. I had _way_ too much fun writing this chapter, so I _really_ hope it was great fun to read, as well! This chapter is kind of a bridge between the undercover-mission storyline and the next one - the next-to-last big storyline before the end of the story. There are still some _really_ exciting things I have planned, so hopefully I can get back to a semi-regular update schedule! Thank you so much for your patience with my somewhat sporadic updates thus far, though, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again for the next update!


	20. Stand

Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

**Special Thanks:** goes out to _swallowinthetwilight_, _Halestrom_, _McKazekage_, _TheGirlWithNoIQ_, _Dani Stark_, _Guest_, _greetingsfrommaars_, and _rao hyuga 18_ for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added this story to their alerts and favorites list, I am so grateful to every single one of you for your support!

**Author's Note: **Finally, I'm able to update at the time I wanted to! On that note, there is some medical stuff going on in my family, so I'm a little iffy about the timing of the next chapter, but I'll try not to make you wait any longer than two weeks _at most_. For now, though, I'm going to be quiet and let you read. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

***~Chapter XIX~***

_~Stand~_

* * *

Itachi hadn't had such a good night's sleep in as long as he could remember.

Sitting across from Temari at the breakfast table for the first time in over a week, Itachi felt like, somehow, he'd come home. When he originally arrived in Suna he'd thought he could never call such a hot, dry, unforgiving place by that name; but Temari had changed his mind, and surprisingly easily. Konoha would always hold all the fondness of his childhood memories; now though, as an adult, Suna held an entirely new, fresh, _beautiful_ appeal his home village couldn't equal.

Temari's eyes flitted up to meet his, and he offered her a wink. She pressed her lips together to hide a smile as she looked back down at her plate. To her credit, only the very tips of her ears turned pink, betraying her embarrassment.

He knew his behavior to be rash, particularly since Gaara sat only two seats away. The redhead had proven time and again to be the most observant person of Itachi's acquaintance. Attempting to flirt with Temari right under the younger man's nose would most probably not turn out well. But since Temari had admitted she (might) love him, Itachi felt lighter, freer, than he had in a long time.

Fortunately Kankuro didn't seem to notice either. Other than welcoming Itachi back to the table, he'd not said much, intent on eating his breakfast as quickly as possible. The reason for his hurry sat next to the door: a box holding one of his many hand-made puppets, with which he performed in the Founder's Festival, as well as in other, smaller, festivals in Suna and their allied villages, most of them also in the Land of Wind. Besides the very real pleasure he gained from such a pursuit, his ability also served as a good cover if infiltration were necessary, since he and several other members of the troupe were not only puppeteers, but ninja as well.

Reaching for his cup, Itachi took a drink of his tea as he carefully avoided looking at Temari, even though he felt simply gazing at her beautiful face would sustain him more than food. Having decided to pursue a relationship with her, he knew the road he traveled would get even bumpier. After all, up until fairly recently, she'd hated him; even now, he knew she still didn't _entirely_ trust him on a personal level as opposed to the professional. But he'd wait however long it took for her to get to the point where she trusted him - unfailingly and unquestioningly - in all areas of her life. She was _definitely_ worth it.

The only major roadblock Itachi saw to their newly blossoming courtship was Gaara, who had a certain reputation in Konoha. While Itachi had his doubts about the accuracy of the rumors regarding him and his bloodthirsty nature, he didn't want to risk angering the man. But still...

Temari was _so_ definitely worth any risk of incurring her brother's displeasure.

One thing they'd agreed on the night before: They would _have_ to out their relationship to Gaara. Temari had pointed out the danger of exploring and developing this romantic bond between them while at the same time being partnered on missions. The fallout if something went wrong during a mission because of it seriously did not bear thinking of. Better to tell Gaara now, on their own terms, instead of having him discover their relationship later because a mission went catastrophically wrong.

Temari's mind had evidently been following in a similar track. Itachi saw her draw an unobtrusively deep breath. "Do you have anything in particular going on after breakfast, Gaara?" She asked the question casually, chopsticks dangling loosely from her hand as she watched her brother.

Looking up from his rice bowl, Gaara sent his elder sibling a curious look. "Paperwork, and then a meeting with the Council right after lunch. Why, is something wrong?"

Shaking her head, Temari set down her chopsticks and reached for her teacup. "No, nothing's wrong," she said. She took a sip of tea before continuing, "I - well, Itachi and I - just need to talk to you, that's all."

Out of the corner of his eye, Itachi saw Kankuro's head come up and around. His brown eyes gleamed very suspiciously, his expression _far_ too knowing for the Uchiha's tastes. Clearing his throat, he added, "It has to do with our last mission." _Partially, if not entirely, true._

Looking disappointed, but not _entirely_ foiled, Kankuro returned his attention to the contents of his plate. However, Gaara's perceptive pale green eyes shifted from Temari, to Itachi, to Kankuro, and then back. "All right," he said. "I can spare some time right after breakfast. We can discuss - whatever it is you want to discuss - in my office then."

So he understood there was more to it than that. _Wonderful._

The rest of breakfast passed in relative silence. As soon as Kankuro finished, he excused himself and took off with his Scarecrow puppet in tow. The other three finished not long afterwards, then made their way to the Sunese leader's office. Once they were all settled into their respective seats, Gaara steepled his fingers and stared at Itachi and Temari over their tips. "All right. What's all this about?"

Itachi looked to Temari out of the corner of his eye. _I think he'll take it better coming from you._ He hoped she read the thought in his eyes.

Clearing her throat, Temari lightly tapped her hands against her thighs twice. "What I said earlier is partially the truth," she said. "_Part_ of the reason why we want to talk to you does have to do with the mission."

Gaara nodded. "Well, considering you were at breakfast this morning," he nodded to Itachi "I'm guessing whatever happened to make the two of you angry at each other has been resolved."

Temari laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, I can't speak for Itachi, but I wasn't technically _mad_," she hedged.

"I think you were, a little," Itachi muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Well - all right. Perhaps a little." Lowering her hand to her lap again, she smiled sheepishly. "But you're right. Our earlier differences have been resolved. Dare I even say for the better?"

Those sharp green eyes narrowed infinitesimally. His gaze snapped to Itachi. Though he didn't say anything or shift his expression, clearly he'd already worked things out. What he thought of these developments, however, he didn't seem inclined to share yet.

"Itachi and I have - well, we're-" Temari sighed, scowled, and shook her head. "I'm not quite sure how to phrase this."

"Just speak plainly, Temari." Gaara leaned back in his chair, though his expression didn't relax with his posture.

"We've fallen- We're falling- We've decided to start a relationship." Temari rushed out the words so quickly even Itachi barely understood them.

Gaara didn't look surprised. Or angry. Or even fazed, really. His gaze drifted from his sister's face to Itachi's, then back, before he said with a blandness that managed to be intimidating, "I'm glad you both came to me with this. Although you're both on down time, due to the lengthy nature of your last mission, I will place you both on active duty again, probably very soon. Your decision to tell me now, instead of my finding out through alternate - perhaps even fatal - means was a wise one. However, that now leaves me with a rather difficult choice to make." He sighed once, sounding far older than his seventeen years. "A pity, though, in a way. The two of you were shaping up to be my most effective team."

"We didn't do it to complicate things," Temari said defensively. "It just kind of - happened."

"I was not accusing you." Leaning forward again, Gaara rested his folded hands atop his desk and pinned them both with his serious gaze. "However, I do have to address one rather important facet of this situation. While I am - glad - the two of you have found happiness with each other, I must make a decision whether to keep you together as partners in the field, or form two new teams. Keeping romantically involved people together as a team is not often done, for obvious reasons. Even if I extracted from you promises that you would not let your personal relationship interfere with your duties in the field, you both know how dangerous - how _deadly_ - things can get."

And there it was. No matter what protestions to the contrary he might make, in truth he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't put Temari's safety above someone else's, or a mission's successful completion, if the situation arose. He didn't know if Temari would make the same choice, although he had his suspicions. It was something that needed to be discussed _now_, before it became an issue.

"Yes, you two have proven a very effective team in the field. I really do hate to break that up." Gaara tapped his fingertips together once, twice, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "But on the other hand, losing you permanently would be a far more grievous loss."

Temari's knuckles whitened as she tightened her hands into fists against her knees. "You're splitting us up, aren't you?" She sounded more resigned than questioning.

One of Gaara's hairless brows twitched. "Would you rather I separate you on a personal level, or a professional one?"

"Professional." Itachi and Temari responded instantly, with one voice.

Gaara nodded. "I thought we would all be in agreement on that matter." Reaching out, he sorted through the stack of files sitting next to him as he continued. "I have also heard of instances where a professional relationship sabotages a personal one. I do not want such a thing to happen here." Withdrawing two files, he held them up, one in each hand. "As you can see, I have been giving some consideration to this matter already, and I want to try something a little - different. The two of you seemed to work very well with Soichiro and Matsuri during the Land of Gems mission. Itachi, I'll have you working mostly with Soichiro and Temari, you with Matsuri, but changing out with those two partners as the situation warrants."

Itachi's eyebrows wanted to twitch. Temari actually did raise hers. "That _is_ different. And if the arrangement doesn't work out?" she asked.

"We can keep rotating partners until you find the right fit," Gaara conceded, "even though I hate to do that. But I feel fairly confident you and Matsuri will work just fine, Temari, and Itachi and Soichiro as well." Closing his eyes, he let out another long sigh. "I really do hate to have to do this. But in this case, I have no choice. I hope you two realize that."

"Yes," Temari replied.

"We discussed this last night, when we admitted things had gotten personal between us," Itachi added.

"We had a feeling it would turn out this way. We're - all right with it," Temari finished. She shot Itachi a glance out of the corner of her eye, and he saw his own thoughts mirrored there. _As okay as we can be with it._

As Temari's partner in the professional sense, Itachi had always felt protective of her. Now he'd fallen in love with her, those protective instincts had increased a hundredfold. The idea of trusting someone else with her safety put him on edge; but it was a sacrifice that had to be made if they were to build something far more personal together.

"Very well. Was there anything else the two of you wished to discuss with me?" Gaara's gaze drifted from Itachi, to Temari, and then back, with his usual bland expression. But there was something about his eyes, a glint Itachi found vaguely disturbing...

"No, I think that's it." After glancing at Itachi, Temari stood at the same time he did. "Thanks for listening, Gaara."

_And thank you for not throwing me out of the village,_ Itachi added silently. The pair bowed, then headed for the door. Itachi stepped back to allow Temari to exit first, with a softly murmured, "You go on ahead." Then, the skin between his shoulderblades prickling, he turned back to Gaara. "Was there something else you wanted to say to me, milord?" With a feeling of what was coming, he readied himself for it.

Gaara remained seated behind his desk and did not visibly move. However, the impression of darkness seeping into his eyes made him far more intimidating than if he stood directly in front of Itachi with a katana at his throat. "While I am thankful for all you have done for my sister, and am reasonably glad you two have ended up in a relationship, I will warn you: If you hurt Temari in any way, I will not hesitate to retaliate. Any rumors you may have heard about me will be _nothing_ compared to the reality I will unleash upon you."

Itachi felt a tremor deep inside his stomach. In those flat green eyes he saw scores of painful, bloody deaths, a haunting reminder of everything he'd ever heard about Gaara amplified by a _thousand_. Swallowing back an unfamiliar fear which instinctively swelled into his throat, he managed to answer evenly and with quiet intensity, "You have nothing about which to be concerned, milord. If, somehow, I hurt Temari, and she did not kill me first, I assure you, I would kill myself."

A flicker of respect lit Gaara's eyes. In acknowledgement of that promise he tilted his red head in a psuedo-bow. Letting go of the doorknob, Itachi bowed in response, then turned and left the room.

The deadly promise in Gaara's eyes had far exceeded his anticipations. Closing the door behind himself, Itachi paused to let out a soft - and more than just a little shaky - breath. _I'm glad he feels protective of his sister, but at the same time I absolutely hope he never gets mad at me. The rumors I've heard about him paint him as a coldnatured killer who bathes in the blood of his enemies. What I just saw in his eyes, though, is a reality infinitely worse than anything I ever heard._

He started to turn to leave; halted abruptly when he saw Temari standing just a few steps away - certainly close enough to have heard everything just said in her brother's office.

Itachi hesitated, unsure of what to do or say. But the decision was taken out of his hands when Temari smiled tentatively at him as she extended a hand to him, her eyes softening in a way he'd never seen before. She didn't say a word as their fingers twined together, but somehow he had a feeling they'd just had their most meaningful conversation to date.

* * *

"I'm so excited," Temari whispered later that afternoon. Kazedansu's ear lazily twitched toward her mistress, her big brown eyes glinting with what the blonde could almost _swear_ was interest. "But it's also scary at the same time." Shifting the curry brush, she swiped it across her mare's back, finding as much comfort in the motion as Kazedansu.

Bobbing her head, the pale mare snorted - in agreement or not, Temari couldn't tell. So she went on. "Logically, I know Itachi would never hurt me intentionally, and I don't mean in a physical sense. I mean on an emotional level - if he wanted to do that, he's certainly had opportunities long before now, right? But at the same time, I don't feel really _comfortable_ with the thought of letting him get so close to me. Emotionally, you know. Granted, he's seen me at my very worst, and I suppose also in some of my better moments, too, but..." She bit her lower lip anxiously. _I know I'm not the easiest person to be around. One of these days he's going to reach his limit, and that will be the end._

Leaning against Kazedansu's side, Temari stroked her mare's neck and shoulder as she continued to speculate aloud. "When he _does_ reach his limit, judging from what I overheard, he's going to consider himself honor-bound to stay in a relationship with me, even if he doesn't want to have anything more to do with me. And that will be really miserable for both of us. So that brings me to a question I _should_ have asked before I got any more emotionally tangled up than I already am: Do I dare derive what happiness and pleasure I can from being with Itachi while I can, or do I break it off now, before it becomes even more painful? But can I hurt _Itachi_ like that? My life feels totally out of my control, girl, and I'm not used to that. I'm just so _confused_."

Turning her head, Kazedansu nuzzled her nose against Temari's chest. Laughing, the blonde obligingly stroked her mare's face, paying special attention to the black patch around the horse's left eye, the only splotch of color on her anywhere. "Ah, Kazedansu. If only we could trade places for a little while, hmm? Your life is so simple, and even more so now that you're going into retirement. And you've always been so smart. I think you could clear all this right up for me. Too bad you can't talk, hmm?"

"Who can't talk?"

Temari nearly dropped her brush. "Itachi! Where did you come from?" She scolded herself for not having heard or sensed his approach. _Apparently he's been taking lessons from Gaara on how to move in absolute silence._

Leaning against the door of the stall, Itachi smiled crookedly at her. "In the grand scheme of things? Konoha. More recently? The gym. So who can't talk?"

Regaining control of her wildly beating heart - the traitorous thing reacted just as much to Itachi's presence as to her startlement - Temari went back to stroking her mare. In a voice higher than normal she said quickly, "Kazedansu. I was just talking some things over with her, asking her opinion. Naturally she can't answer back, but it helps me work out things in my mind." She combed her fingers through her horse's mane, feeling suddenly very melancholy. _Has he come to tell me he's having second thoughts, too?_

Itachi allowed Kazedansu to sniff his hand, then stroked the mare's cheek. "I've always thought your mare is beautiful," he said, straightening her forelock with his long, precise fingers. "And fast. It's a pity you're having to retire her."

Pressing her forehead against Kazedansu's warm neck, Temari let out a long, shaky breath. "She's getting far too old to work in the field. Besides, I-I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her." Slipping her arms around the mare's neck, she squeezed, smiling when Kazedansu swung her head around to tap her chin against her mistress's shoulder in a pseudo-hug. "I've had this horse since she was a filly. She - she's the last foal my mother's mare had before Mother died. Kazedansu is the last tangible link - besides my brothers, of course - I have to her."

Gentle fingers ghosted across her arm. Temari shivered at Itachi's light touch, every square inch of her tingling. She slowly drew her hand back down to the mare's withers, suddenly fiercely wishing she were touching him instead of her horse. "I see why she means so much to you," he said softly. His hand settled on top of hers. "But 'Mari-" it was the first time he'd ever used the diminutive of her name, and it made her soul tremble in response "-my beautiful 'Mari, I meant every word I said to Lord Gaara. Don't you believe me?"

He was so close. She fought the urge to look at his handsome face. "Yes," she whispered, "I believe you mean them _now._ But," she forced herself to go on while willing the tears she felt welling to stay behind her eyes, "I know I'm not an - easy- person to love, Itachi. Even though my brothers do, sometimes I think they don't _like_ me very well. I _want_ this to last. I really do. I just don't know if it _can_."

Taking hold of her shoulders, Itachi turned her to face him. "It _can_," he said, his black eyes luminous with tenderness as he bent to brush his lips across her left cheek. "It _will_." He echoed the motion across her right cheek before drawing back slightly. "Now having said that," he lifted his hands to cup her face, "do I believe we'll never have any rough patches or disagreements? No. But I love you, Temari. I love _all_ of you. And that includes the prickly, strongheaded parts as well, because they help to make you _you_. I know this is hard for you to accept. I know it's hard for you to trust that much, but you can trust this: You are now my only reason for living, and that will _never_ change."

Bending towards her again, he claimed her lips with his own; and for the moment, at least, all of Temari's doubts and insecurities fled in front of the incredible knowledge that she was so thoroughly and completely loved.

***~To Be Continued~***

_**Author's Ending Notes:**_ I managed to get this chapter up when I planned, but I wanted to let you know the timing in on the next one is a tad iffy. There's some medical stuff going on in my family (nothing _serious_, but enough to throw things slightly out of whack), so I might not be able to get it up for a while. But I'll try my hardest not to make you all wait any longer than two weeks _at most_. But for now, I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thank you so much for reading! I hope to see you all again for the next update!


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